


Until we Trace our Poison to its Bud

by natalexx



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Firefly
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-13
Updated: 2006-01-13
Packaged: 2017-12-16 18:05:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/864999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalexx/pseuds/natalexx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are eight more Cylons hidden in the fleet, and hundreds of ships that haven’t been checked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: Written before _Serenity_ the movie, but everything from _Firefly_ the complete series is fair game. Likewise with _Battlestar Galactica_ through season 2.0 up to but not including ‘Pegasus’ (the 2.0 season finale).
> 
> Title from “Mine the Harvest” by Edna St. Vincent Millay (and not intended to be pretentious; I just could not come up with a title!). 
> 
> Thanks to [](http://lyrian.livejournal.com/profile)[**lyrian**](http://lyrian.livejournal.com/) for assuring me it was decent (and helping me settle on the title). And to [](http://dingogrrl.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://dingogrrl.livejournal.com/)**dingogrrl** for the one conversation that inspired and shaped pretty much the entire concept.  
> 

**Prologue:**

"She said there were eight more Cylons hidden in the fleet," Baltar informed them. "I strongly recommend making at the very least a cursory inspection of the Fleet, looking for the four identifiable models.”

"The photos have been circulated," Adama responded, the rumble in his voice concealing both his reaction to Baltar and to the matter at hand.

"That's ridiculous," Baltar exclaimed, his excitement more than warranted by the sedate group sitting around the table. "There are ships within the fleet which might still be harboring--"

"An official survey would take resources we don't have, Doctor," Adama cut him off.

"Mr. Vice President will be fine, Commander, and I still strongly recommend that we at least make some effort to survey the crafts which are most vulnerable, the smaller ships, the ones that as yet have been relatively self-contained. For all we know, they could have been tagging along all this time, simply monitoring our progress." Baltar dragged his unruly hair away from his forehead with his fingertips, looking back and forth from the two of them earnestly.

Adama shared a look with President Roslin. "You agree with this?"

"He makes a very convincing argument, Commander."

Adama sighed at last, and nodded his head minutely. "That he does."

"We might at least think about sending a formal representative to the smaller ships,” Roslin repeated Baltar’s strategy. “Those with a less structured in-ship system, for instance. The ships we were forced to press into service as airliners to escape with the Fleet."

"There are a great deal fewer of those," Baltar immediately agreed. “I’m certain you’d agree, Commander, that making an official presence felt would not go astray…all things considered, you are aware that some of these ships are sub-par as far as, well, as military regulation goes in the Fleet.”

Roslin adjusted her eyeglasses, giving Adama an amused look. "I imagine some of those ships could benefit from some military insight,” she said drily.

Adama smiled, already turning away. "Don't use your psychological wiles on me. I can see you and the Vice President have a point. I'll start arranging teams immediately."

* * *

Luck of the draw. Kara swung parallel to the ship, giving her a fairly good view of the whole of it.

It was the smallest surviving ship in the fleet. According to Dee, the pilot was extremely capable: using a cobbled-together FTL drive yet managing to keep up with _Galactica_. The ship's passengers and crew remained unaccounted, as the ship was equipped with only two occupied shuttle bays and a landing bay with no internal air seal, incapable of landing a Viper or Raptor mid-air. The ship wasn't equipped to connect to anything Fleet-issue, and landing her on a bigger ship hadn’t yet become a priority, especially while the Fleet was on high alert more often than not.

According to Commander Adama, the ship's crew was all independents, probably smugglers and criminals before the Holocaust. The fact that she could fly the Heavy Raider and it was one of the only ships that could hook up to the firefly wasn't the only reason he sent Kara. As he said before she left, it figured one independent could deal with another.

" _ _Serenity__ , this is Starbuck, requesting confirmation for landing." Kara paused. No return. Frak. Their communication systems were far from compatible, according to Dee, but no way was Kara attempting a hook-up with a ship not prepped on the other side.

" _Galactica_ , this is Starbuck. I'm not receiving transmissions from the firefly. I repeat, _Galactica_ , I'm having trouble with communications."

"Starbuck, _Galactica_ ," Dee's voice came in return. "We've received confirmation from __Serenity__. You're clear to board. Ship's captain reports nine on board."

"Understood, _Galactica_. And you can bet I'll make frakking sure the number's right,” she added, mostly to herself.

Lee had protested her coming alone. If there were Cylons on board the ship, after all, he said, she might recognize them but what would she do from there? The ship's pilot and captain had been very accommodating, Adama had insisted. It'll be fine. He issued her a belt full of explosive rounds before she left.

* * *

The airlock sealed and Kara squeezed out of the cockpit. The heavy Raiders were designed to sit a squad of Cylons, but they still didn't sit a full-grown human pilot very well. Her parts just went in different places than the frakking toaster’s did. She rebuckled her ammo belt and shifted the gun to the front of her hip where it would be noticed.

The inside bay door was dirty and rusted, with a quaint square window at eye-level. Kara pounded the heel of her hand against the door, twice, and waited. The window was entirely too dirty to see past. The door slid open, smooth and quiet. Looked like somebody saw to the important parts of the ship; that was a good sign.

The first thing Kara did was count her welcome committee: three women, six men. None were in uniform, had military bearing, or even looked entirely likely as a spacer. Except maybe one. Kara's eyes rested on the tall woman, wearing boots and resting her hands on her hips. The woman met her gaze levelly, and then slowly slid her eyes to the man in brown on her left. Kara followed, and once he had her attention, the man stepped forward. "Malcolm Reynolds," he announced himself, extending his hand. "Captain of this ship, such as need arises." She shook his hand, watching his manner. "This is my first mate, Zoe," he indicated the woman Kara noticed first. "And our illustrious pilot Wash..." He nodded at the man standing to Zoe's other side, who wagged his head and grinned, saying, "Aw, Mal, you pick the best moments to show me you care."

Mal spun on his heel to point out the rest of the group, pointing rapidly. "Inara, Simon, River, Kaylee, Jayne." He paused and switched to his other side, "And Book."

"These are all members of your crew?"

Mal paused. "That's right."

"Pretty big crew for a ship of this size." Kara said testily. "Aren't you carrying any survivors?"

Mal nodded. "We've got a whole passel of orphans in one of the forward holds. Boarded them off the Astral Queen not long ago. Seems they needed somewhere to go."

"You volunteered?"

Mal's smile broke over his face unexpectedly. "Not much for children, myself, but they're small and more easy to maneuver if'n they get in my way."

"Uh huh." Kara smirked. "Well, I'm gonna need the grand tour, if you don't mind. I need a list of resources to take back."

"Well, you're more'n welcome in the engine room, Lieutenant," volunteered the smaller girl. "It's not much to look at, but it runs *real* nice, I swear."

"You'd be the one who put together that makeshift FTL that works so well," Kara remarked, leading her on.

She beamed. "That's right. Well--I had some help." She blushed. "And it still falls apart pretty often. But, we always seem to manage to get her put back together again."

"So long as we don't get left behind, it's doing just fine." Mal gripped her shoulder and tugged her to his side. For a moment, Kara thought she was witnessing her first sign of a dictatorship, but then the girl snuggled under his arm and grinned up at him. He petted her hair and let her go after a moment.

"Bridge first. I need to radio _Galactica_."

"You won't mind if my crew gets back to work in the meantime," Mal said. Telling, not asking.

Kara glanced them over again, noting faces. "No," she replied. "That's fine."

"Right this way, Lieutenant." The frame of the ship was bare on the inside, just a series of rusted metal mesh walkways. Captain Reynold's boots were noisier than hers, as he led her up to the ship's bridge. __Serenity__ 's pilot trailed along after, and started to chatter.

"So, uh, is this the type of inspection where we're all good friends or will I be glad later that I organized my underwear and took the toys out of my sock drawer?"

Kara glanced over her shoulder and his eyes widened. "Oh, no, toys that would only amuse an eight-year-old boy kind of toys. Because I'm all about mature like that."

Kara smirked. "You almost had me talked into running an real military inspection, Wash. I'm disappointed."

Wash grinned. "If you're looking for interesting, it'd be in Inara's shuttle."

"You use your shuttles for extra bunks?"

"Inara was a Companion before the Attacks," Reynolds remarked.

"A Companion?" Kara repeated. "That's a fancy name for a whore, isn't it?"

"Yep," Reynolds responded, no defense in his voice.

"Retired," Wash qualified quickly.

"Not real happy about it, either," Reynolds added. He stepped to the side and gestured at the hatch to the bridge in front of them. "Wash can show you what you need here, Lieutenant, and I'll meet up with you later."

"Hm," Kara said, making a show of glancing him up and down.

"Sure, come on up, Lieutenant," Wash said, hopping up the ladder. "We got comm. mics and everything."

Kara climbed up the bridge after, and Wash pointed her at the equipment. " _Galactica_ , this is Starbuck. Starbuck calling _Galactica_."

Dee's voice fizzed as it came over the radio. "Starbuck, _Galactica_ reads you."

"Starbuck reporting from onboard __Serenity__."

" _Galactica_ reads loud and clear, Starbuck. We'll expect another check within an hour. On my mark: sixteen-hundred twenty."

"Understood, _Galactica_. 1620. Starbuck out."

"Many a night's I've sat here--when not sleeping happily by my wife, that is--wondering whose voice that is. The voice of _Galactica_." Wash sat back and twisted around in his chair. "Is that a real person back there?"

Kara propped her butt on the edge of the control board. "Sure she is. Petty-officer, very nice person; very pretty too."

"Oh, well, you know...there's none that can beat my wife for looks. Has a real nice voice, though. Professional. Mighty soothing, too." Wash scrubbed his hand through his blond hair and looked sheepish. Too clueless to be true. "What does that 'petty-officer' thing *mean*, anyway? Who wants to be called petty? It's not a real flattering job description, is it?"

"Hazards of the military."

"Now, see, that's why I never joined an organization. I'd hate to be referred to as a... Trifling-pilot officer or some such."

Kara grinned, broadly this time. "The pilots are never trifles in the Fleet."

He grinned back. "Good to know."

Wash twirled a piece of his hair as he swiveled back and forth in his chair and asked carefully, "So you never answered me before, about the inspecting I mean. See, we've a bit of the independent prickles 'round here...you've got us a little on edge."

Kara glanced away from him and tried to decide if there was any reason to reassure him. She couldn't think of any. "Which one's your wife?"

"Oh," he turned back to the controls. "That'd be Zoe."

Kara looked at him closely. "Really."

He tossed her a pleased look. "I know. I'm lucky." He rested back into the deep part of his chair and brushed his nails over his bright flowered shirt.

Kara pushed herself away from the helm. "Point me toward the engine room."

"Oh, um," Wash stretched lazily. "It's a bit of a--"

"Wash," Kara said sharply, turning on him. "I have a job to do."

"Right," Wash said quickly. "It's straight through the dining area, can't miss it."

Kara followed his directions as far as the dining area before she ran across a young girl with long, unruly hair. She stepped out into Kara's path, one arm looped around a wall pipe. "Guns and __Serenity__ don't mix," she said softly, tilting her head.

"Excuse me?"

"You brought a gun aboard my ship," she said. Her eyes were cold and Kara flipped open her jacket.

"Frakking big one, too, sweetheart."

She cocked her hip and stepped toward her. "The rain doesn't fall but you hear it anyway." She smiled.

"River's the true unique soul aboard my ship," Captain Reynolds said from behind her.

"They say I'm not right in the head," River said simply.

"This ship doesn't seem equipped for that sort of passenger." Kara didn't take her eyes off the girl.

"She's receiving care."

She turned. "From who?"

"Her brother." He paused, his lips pressed. "Ship's doc."

Kara tensed. "You have a doctor aboard this ship."

"Brilliant," River murmured. "All lit up."

"Thank you," the captain shot back. "I s'pect you'd like to see the infirmary next. Right this way."

"He's not such a gruff bear," River lilted as they left. "Nor half so hairy."

Kara browsed through the infirmary, which was picked-over but obviously used to be well-stocked. There were ancient cloth bandages and a lot of high-tech gear.

"You've been hoarding supplies, Captain." She looked at him where he stood by the door, then over at the young doctor, standing with his hands clasped by the recessed bed. "We could've used your services, too."

The doctor's entire body seized up as he seemed to not want to flinch. "Well, I...you see, River needs special care. I felt that--I hope you can understand why I would give River preferential treatment." He swallowed. "She's my sister."

"Not his fault, Lieutenant," Reynolds spoke from the doorway. "I told him to keep his peace, least 'til we was asked for something."

"People could have died because of that decision," Kara said fiercely, thinking of the old man.

Reynolds cocked his head. "Seems to me that these ships have banded together because we're all that's left and there's no planets left out there nowhere safe to scavenge without bigger guns than we’ve got ourselves. Leastwise I know that's why I'm here." He shifted off the doorframe. "But my people all chose this particular ship to stick over some other for their own reasons and I figure that holds despite what changed. May be one of the only choices we got left that ain't made out of pure necessity, is how we hold on to what’s left." He held her gaze. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Simon crossed his arms and bit his lip, deferring to Reynolds.

"I'm no politician, but I know these survivors--none of us--will survive if everybody's working hard to not cooperate with anybody else."

Reynolds shrugged magnanimously. "I got nothin’ against fair trade. When it's fair." He smiled tightly. "I just got a real habit of considerin’ what I bought 'n mostly paid for mine and nobody else." He flicked three fingers at the infirmary stock. "Guess I just like to be asked."

"Well," Kara drawled, falling back on cool casualness. "Guess that's what this inventory's for, isn't it. So we'll know what to ask."

Kara eventually found her way to the engine room, and Kaylee the mechanic. "Hey there," she said, unfurling from beneath a piece of mechanics that looked like nothing more than smeared grease and frayed copper wires. "You made it."

"Took a detour."

"Yeah. __Serenity__ 's got a bit of a wide-open feel. Captain picked it for that self-same thing. You get used to it."

"How long have you been aboard?"

"Oh, gosh." Kaylee pushed hair behind her ears. "Seems like a real long time. _Serenity_ 's more my home than the planet my folks--I mean, where they used to live. I like space."

"So, most of the crew was on board already before the Cylon attack."

"Oh, sure, all of us. Only reason we was where we was when it happened was 'cause we was supposed to drop 'Nara off. She was going to leave." Kaylee's expression went from proud to disappointment in a minute. "Guess I'm not real sorry that we didn't lose 'Nara, but I s'pect it's not real kindly of me to be pleased we're all safe and no others hardly to speak of."

Kara shook here head. "Not much any of us could do about it, was there, Kaylee."

Kaylee smiled weakly.

"You must have been pretty self-sufficient before the Cylon attacks."

Kara patted the case of the engine gently. "Yeah," she said. "But things change..." She smiled softly, looking at her equipment. "Don't they."

Kara found her way to the Companion's shuttle, but just as she stepped inside the door, Reynolds was at her side again. Kara paused, cleared her throat, and turned back to him. "Captain Reynolds."

"Lieutenant. See you're finding your way around well 'nough."

He didn't bother her. He was irritated because he didn't want her in his business, a sentiment she could well understand. "I am. Are you coming in?"

"Thought I might." He reached around her and pushed open the internal curtains. "Inara, put some clothes on. We're comin' in."

"What a pleasant greeting. As always, Mal." Inara stood as they entered, her robe falling in waves from her hips, a slow cascade designed to depict sensuality. The affect was only slightly marred by the thinness of the wave. Her shuttle, too, was threadbare luxury.

"Looks like this used to be a nice place to live," Kara said, pacing the length of the room. "Scarlett threads, velvet, and, oh, wow, feather pillows. And a cortex machine. Been a long time since I've seen that used." She stopped to look at the woman. "Must've worked hard in your time, Companion."

"Companion is--was a legally recognized profession in the old 'verse, Lieutenant."

"Oh, I know all about Companions." Kara bared her teeth. "It must be hard to have lost everything. Having to live this way can't be easy for you."

Inara's face never lost its carefully composed expression. "It's a big change, that's true. But things are different for everyone, aren't they."

"You know, there's your kind of work available on some of the big ships. I understand the Astral Queen has a large deficit in..." She looked her up and down, at her preserved but faded tunic. "Social workers."

Inara's perfectly rouged lips turned slightly upward at the corners. "Thank you for the concern, but a Companion no longer functions without a Guild. I am surviving quite well without clients."

Kara nodded shortly. "Let us know if you change your mind. The fleet could use all the morale it can get."

The Captain followed her out. "If I were a perceptive man, I'd say that you don't think highly of our Inara's former profession," he remarked as they walked up the deck. "That's if I was perceptive, mind, which a great many have told me and regularly I ain't."

"It's been my experience that a whore's always looking for a way to do business." Kara glanced at him.

"Somewhat ludicrous distinction it may be, but Inara was a Companion. Not a common prostitute."

"Companion was just a cute title to keep the job sounding respectable. It takes a certain type in the first place, Captain, and that type will come out one way or another." Kara answered. She started to hear the sounds of children up ahead, and kept walking. "Excuse the expression. But I know my whores."

"But just so's we're clear," he said, pausing and touching her arm. She took one halting step and looked at him. He removed his hand before she could form a glare. "It is *just* personal."

"I don't feel a real need to be clear with you, Captain."

He smiled without humor. "Well, you see, I got a problem with that because you're on my ship, 'n looking over my people. I don't much cotton to the idea of my people being judged unfairly."

She looked at him closely, but said nothing. His dialect was strange to her, though she’d heard a little of its type out on the rim of the Alliance/Colonial border, years back. The look in his eyes was plain enough, and rare, though she recognized his thoughts.

"The way I see it, you're the only one here and your opinion's more'n likely to carry more weight than usual back on that ship.”

Kara grimaced slightly, Adama’s assigment at the forefront of her mind. "Don't remind me. Don't worry, Captain Reynolds, I promise my personal bias won't make it into the report. And,” she added, feeling the need to defend Adama, “That wouldn't go over too well at __Galactica__ , either."

"Good 'nough," he agreed, with a short nod. Then he looked at her as though he recognized something in her words, as well. "And you can call me Mal, long as you're on my ship."

She paused. "Okay."

"Starbuck!" Boxey came running down the corridor ahead. "What are you doing here?"

"Boxey?" Kara grinned at her sometime-conspirator companion. He'd been sent away from __Galactica__ while she was on Caprica. "So this is where you ended up. How do you like that?" Poor kid. At least he wasn’t being knocked around. Anyway, he looked in pretty good shape to her.

"It's shiny," Boxey said, without hesitation. "The other kids are all orphans, like me, and I don't have to have a babysitter like on _Galactica_. I know my way all over the ship!"

"Pretty good, kid."

Boxey tilted back his head and gazed up at her mischievously. "Who's been lighting your cigars while I've been away?"

Kara knocked his hair out of his eyes with her fist. "Brat. I've had to do it all by myself."

Boxey blushed and shifted. "They said you wouldn't make it back. After you went back to Caprica."

Kara snorted. "Who said that? You should know not to believe anything you hear, kiddo. 'Specially when it comes to me." She winked.

"You will, however, be wanting to share all those stories with the group later," Mal spoke up. Boxey looked at him and gave a mock salute, all bright eyes.

A tall man with grey hair in a bun walked up behind Boxey and put a hand on his head. "I see you know our visitor, son."

"She's the best pilot in the Fleet!" Boxey announced, waving between them. "She tells all the other pilots what to do."

Kara smiled. "Only when leveler heads are absent. And you are?"

"Book." He held out his hand.

"He's a Shepherd. And he's been Shepherding the young'uns." Mal caught her eye. "Think he might be the reason they let a bunch of renegades like us take in a load of innocent kids."

She ignored his hand, squaring her shoulders. "A Shepherd teaches of One True God, correct?"

"That's right. And you come from a part of the 'verse that worships many." Book smiled pleasantly. "Everyone finds faith in their own ways, Lieutenant."

"The Cylons believe in a One God."

His eyes hardened. "Doesn't mean we share the one."

Kara's chrono chirped. "I'd better check back in with _Galactica_ before they feel the need to send out a search party," she said evenly.

"Right, wouldn't want that now would we." Mal turned to lead back the other way. Kara nodded at Boxey, who had a nervous expression on his face, looking to the Shepherd in confusion. Book’s face remained serene, and he rested a hand on Boxey’s shoulder.

Kara followed Mal away from them. She checked out his outfit briefly. "You were what they called a Browncoat in the war before Unification."

"Now how'd you figure that out?" He blinked showily. "Am I so transparent? Oh, right." He dramatically plucked up the lapels on his long brown coat. "This."

"Browncoats never really made it out to Fleet planets."

"Maybe we did and you just didn't know it."

"Or maybe you guys just like to stick around the Alliance planets where you still feel like there's something to resist." She watched him look at her sharply, and then she grinned. "I'm just frakking with you, Captain."

"Mal," he said again.

"Starbuck," she enunciated in return.

"Quite a handle. I s'pose there's a good reason."

"Not particularly."

Wash stuck his head outside the bridge. "Um, hey, we're getting hailed by a pair of scary aircraft flying circles around my head. If you two are done exchanging tetchy witticisms out there..."

"Is there fighting? I could use me some fighting." Mal's final remaining crew member popped his head out of a hatch below the deck.

"No, Jayne. But if any punching gets thrown, I'll be sure to let you know. Assuming I can wake you, ‘course."

“Hey, that was only the one time.” The bearded man pointed a finger. "So don't forget." And he dropped back down the hatch.

"That's Jayne. Best you don't talk to him much, he might change your opinion about the whole gorram ship."

"No lie," Wash agreed solemnly. "Now could you come up and talk to this Apollo guy? He's making me nervous."

Lee's voice came over the comm.. on the bridge. " _Serenity_ , I repeat, this is CAP leader Apollo hailing Starbuck. Put Starbuck on the wire, _Serenity_." Two Vipers slid through the starscape in front of the ship, streaking the starlight out. "Apollo to Starbuck aboard the _Serenity_."

Kara took over the comm-mic. "Starbuck here, Apollo. Take the stick out."

There was a pause. "Maintain comm protocol, Lieutenant."

Kara smiled and watched the vipers make another pass over the bow. "In that case, hold your nose up, Hot Dog."

Hot Dog's Viper made the minute correction.

"Keep your nose out of my CAP, Starbuck," returned Apollo's amused voice. "You've got your own to fly in 4 hours."

"In that case, you'd better finish your rounds, Captain Tight-Ass. Don't miss anything I'll have to clean up."

"Yeah, yeah. Apollo out." He waggled his wings at her and pulled off in formation.

Kara set down the comm-mic and turned around to find most the crew had joined them. Zoe leaned on the back of Wash's chair. Mal stood across from the doctor at the edge of the deck. Her eyes lingered on the young-looking doctor, and his cautious posture. "I need to be getting back."

Mal pushed away from the railing he was leaning on.

"I'll be taking the doctor with me," she added.

Zoe and Mal exchanged a look. Wash's mouth dropped open. "But--we need him. I mean, River... You told her about River, right?"

"There are other people who need a doctor, too," she said, unwilling to show them any lee-way.

"No, of course," Simon spoke up. "I want to be of service if I can."

"Your services are desperately needed, doctor. And this will still be your ship."

Simon looked quickly to Mal, then nodded again. "I'm happy to help."

"We'll look after River here," Zoe said.

"Let's get going, then," Kara said, passing them all by quickly on the way back to her ship.

* * *

__Galactica_ \- Deck 16  
14 days Nearer to Earth_

"How was your sensitive diplomatic mission?" Lee asked the next time he saw her: jogging at 0600. "Which required great insight and perception?"

Kara rolled her eyes, but briefly, because Lee was watching where he placed his feet instead of her face. "Please. Insight and perception. It's the same thing, Lee."

"No, no it isn't," he insisted with a grin. "Insight is one thing. Perception knows how to use it."

Kara blew out her breath dismissively. "You're talking out your ass, Captain. It was fine, thank you. Colonel Tigh complimented me on my innate skills of resource development."

Lee burst out laughing, and she started to giggle. And then they both had to stop and drop down on a bench because of shared muscle pain in their sides.

"I hear you're being sent to another ship today, so you must not have screwed up too much."

She slapped his arm as she leaned forward to pull up her sock. "It's weird, though, Lee. I forget how many people there are out there. I mean, so many dead, but still..."

"I know what you mean," Lee said, pulling his sweaty shirt away from his neck. "There are only a few thousand left, but we're still a whole world."

Kara sighed. "Starts to make me think Roslin has a point with her lousy bureaucracy."

Lee looked at her curiously. "The thing is..." he paused and closed his eyes. "The thing is," he went on seriously, "we're still military. It doesn't help a whole lot to see the ideal of things."

Kara smirked at him automatically. "Aw, Lee, still feeling whip-lash from playing the big hero?"

"My father was shot," Lee reminded her. "And Roslin complimented me for taking a stand while I still had his blood all over me." He looked at his hands as if he could still see it. "I can't stop thinking about it."

Kara fell silent. She didn't join the Fleet for this kind of thing. "Who wants to think about this kind of thing? We're just supposed to fly."

Lee grimaced. "The Cylons didn't ask--"

"What we wanted. Yeah, I know."

Lee smiled. "Noticed that, huh?"

"Your dad said the same thing."

Lee nodded. Kara hoisted herself up off the bench and stretched her legs. "C'mon, Lee. Your muscles'll seize."

Lee blew out his breath and got up with a little wince. "Getting old," she yelled over her shoulder as she took off.

He caught up within a minute and they paced each other for a few more laps.

The doctor from _Serenity_ was loitering around the bunk rooms when they turned the last corner, hot and sweaty and coming down from the endorphin high. "Hey, doc," Kara greeted him energetically. "This is Apollo, our fearless leader."

Lee rolled his eyes, and then nodded at the doctor.

"Lee Adama; Simon...Simon something. He's the doctor from that little ship."

"Right," Lee said, shifting into CAG mode automatically. "The doctor they were hiding, you mean." He looked at Simon.

Simon's mouth opened, closed, and then he snapped back to composed and said to Kara, "I was told to go along with you today, in case a doctor is needed. I'm not entirely certain I'll be able to find the...the flight deck? By myself, so I just wanted to say..." He paused. "Don't leave without me."

Kara smiled and clicked her tongue. "Okay," she agreed. She glanced at Lee and decided he had regained the stick up his ass and it was her turn to be nice. "I can walk you down if you want to wait while I shower."

He hesitated and she pushed him into the bunk room ahead of them. "Sit here. Stay out of trouble." She glanced back at him, awkwardly looking away from Kat and Hot Dog, who were sleeping. "You can join us, if you get lonely." She grinned.

Lee trailed her to the head. "What's his story?" he asked as they shucked their shirts.

Kara shrugged. "How should I know?" she asked irritably. "Doc Coddle says he's not used to the equipment, what there is, but he's learning quickly."

"No Fleet background, then," Lee remarked. On the other side of the partition, his water came on. Kara waited for his pressure to even out before she activated her faucet.

"Like that's the arbiter of experience, Lee." Kara soaped up and reached for the razor in her water bag. "I think they were Alliance based."

"Wow," she heard, muffled under the water.

"Yeah, I think that might be the only part of the galaxy I'm really glad was mercilessly annihilated."

"There would have been another war if it hadn't happened," Lee said.

"What?"

"Sooner, rather than later." Lee met her outside the water stalls, rubbing at his hair. "The Alliance wasn't exactly the alliance anymore, and the Fleet wasn't exactly going to fall in line. It was only a matter of time before the two sides clashed." He looked up at her as he wrapped the towel around his waist and tucked it in under his hip. "I suppose you weren't paying any attention to politics."

Kara made a face.

"Right." He grinned. "The Alliance wanted unification. They weren't content to keep to their three-fourths of the universe anymore. The Fleet could ignore the oppression taking place within the Alliance planets, but not a hostile invasion."

"And I'm sure you had some passionate opinion on the subject, but it seems to me we got a hostile invasion by the toasters instead."

Lee raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I noticed. Strange coincidence."

Kara nodded. She pulled on her second tank and leaned over to shake a few more drops of water from her hair onto Lee. "Gotta go. I'll see you later."

He brushed off the water, along with her.

Kara ducked back into the barracks and waved Simon over. "Come on, Doc."

"This will be a little more comfortable than last time," she told him as they climbed aboard the Raptor.

"Less...slimy, as well, I see," he remarked.

Kara grinned. "What's a doctor got against slime, huh, Doc?"

"Generally if a patient's insides are slimy, Lieutenant, it's a *bad* sign."

Kara laughed, and Racetrack snickered from her seat as the ECO.

"So," Kara asked, as she started the take-off sequence. "How's your sister?"

The doctor cleared his throat. "I haven't been able to communicate with her, actually."

Kara nodded. Of course. _Galactica_ 's communication systems were all tied up in official duties, constantly monitored, and most importantly, never private without top-level clearance.

"I'm very worried about her," Simon admitted softly. She glanced at him. He was watching her closely, waiting for her to understand that he wasn't just making conversation.

"Does she need regular medical care?" Kara asked.

Simon glanced away. "No, not regular. Just...constant monitoring. I'm sure they're doing the best they can."

"You could ask for special dispensation to bring her over with you."

"No," he said softly. "She'd hate it here."

* * *

"We've received several requests from the captain of that firefly to have their doctor back. Was something relevant left off the report, Lieutenant?"

"Doc's sister's still on that ship, Sir."

"Ah, I see." Adama made a note on the file opened on his desk. "I'm not aware of any requests from the doctor himself."

"No, probably not. I was going to ask about arranging him scheduled visits, sir."

The Commander looked up at her with interest. "Back to _Serenity_ , Lieutenant?"

"Yes, sir."

"Are you volunteering to chauffeur the young doctor back and forth regularly, Lieutenant?"

Kara grimaced. No sliding out the back door, then. "Yes, sir."

He nodded, and lowered his head to the paperwork again. "You've spoken with Doctor Tam about this?"

"Yes, sir. He misses his sister, sir."

"Understandable." Adama put down his pen and closed the file. "Your flight rotation would have to be reshuffled if you want to slot this in, Lieutenant."

"I can do it on my off time, sir."

Adama shook his head. "I don't want me pilots run down, Kara. Speak to Lee; work it out. You have my permission."

"Thank you, sir."

"Dismissed."

Lee was more than a little surprised. "You want to spend four free cycles shuttling this guy back and forth from a ship? Why? Feeling a little claustrophobic, Kara?"

Kara ignored him. "It's his sister, Lee. How would you feel if you had to work on a different ship from your dad, now that he's all you have left?"

Lee eyed her. He jotted his name on the flight order and handed it back to Kara. "I think you're getting a little sappy on me, Kara."

Kara rolled her eyes. "I start sending out Aphrodite Day cards and joining the beautification committee, *then* you can call me a sap, Lee."

She headed back up to Cottle’s and found Simon staring vacantly at a small stack of medicine vials, sitting at Doc Coddle's desk. "Hey," Kara said, knocking on the door sharply. "C'mon, doc. We're going to visit your kid sister."

Simon lept to his feet, then blinked. "Really?"

Kara smiled. "Come on, we're burning time and I only have four cycles."

* * *

"Simon!" River came running toward them, bare feet silent on the metal floor and moving so fast, her long hair streaming out behind. Kara thought she was going to jump into Simon's not-overly-stable arms, but she stopped short just inches from his chest. "The corners were not so smooth without you here."

Simon smiled down at her warmly, no awareness of her oddness on his face. "I missed you, too, mei-mei." He reached out and clasped her hands between them, like a prayer.

Kara stood and watched them absently as she pushed down the top of her flight suit. She had one quarter-used cigar in her jacket, waiting for the perfect moment to enjoy.

"Well, well, if it isn't our prodigal doctor." Kara turned her head and eyeballed Mal, up and down. He looked like a prime opportunity standing there, and Kara was just bored enough to be inclined toward enjoying it. She smiled cheekily, fingering the cigar inside the front pocket of her suit.

Mal met her eyes, paused a moment to acknowledge her expression, and moved on to Simon and River. "Looks like you might have some communicatin' to do. If you get a chance, Doc, Zoe's got a bit of a burn-- might take a look."

"Sure, of course, absolutely," said Simon quickly.

Mal nodded. "Good to see you back."

Simon smiled, pleased. He put an arm carefully around his sister. "We have a couple hours." His eyes darted to Kara. "Will you be--"

"I'm sure the Captain can find somewhere to stow me while you're enjoying yourself, Doc."

"Mm hm," Mal said. "Might just put you to work."

"Here's the funny thing, Cap: I don't have to answer to you." Kara gave him her most innocent look. "You'll have to come up with something more convincing."

Mal turned slightly, in neither expression nor tone giving her any encouragement. "Well, let's see what we can find."

Kara smiled to herself and patted the cigar in her pocket. Might be the only fun on this ship was what she had. But she hadn’t given up.

"I'm not real displeased to have you back on my ship, Lieutenant. But I'm taken more'n a little aback that you've come willingly," Mal said as she followed him the opposite direction from Simon and River. "You wouldn't be using our fine doctor's family connections to do a little spying, would you?"

Kara watched his back, suddenly suspicious. "Is there something I should be spying on, Captain?"

Mal kept walking, without checking back on her. "Nothing I feel comfortable bringing up, Lieutenant."

"Look, I know you weren't exactly on the good side of the Alliance. And you probably weren't on the right side of the law, either--"

Mal turned back to her in mid-step. "That's a fine distinction you’ve made, Lieutenant."

Kara thought about the cigar again. She needed something between her teeth if all this guy wanted to do was exchange frakking verbal repartee. "Starbuck. Remember?" Her mouth quirked.

"Hm," he grunted.

She waited. Briefly. "Well? Have you come to whatever decision you're making?"

He nodded his head at the hatch they were standing near. "This is my bunk."

It was Kara's turn to swivel mid-step. She laughed lightly. "I like a man who brings home the cat."

Mal looked at her quizzically. "Think you might have me mixed up with somebody else."

Kara snorted. "Oh, no. I haven't done that in awhile." She popped the hatch and slid down the ladder inside without hesitation.

People communicate with their hands and the way they move their lips over hers when they have sex. They tell a lot about themselves with whether they push or want to be pushed, with whether they slip in and out of the embrace or just pull her in towards them. But most of all they reveal themselves in how well they say all this, in whether they're speaking to her directly or using the same lines on everybody.

Kara was bring pretty upfront about her desire to get right to the act, but Mal was patient, and his hands were quiet. He took his time and he surprised her. The man was still a mess of contradictions, but another piece of the puzzle had fallen into her hands. Starbuck likes holding cards. She likes holding them even more than laying them down.

He was still while she pulled out her cigar and lit up. "That contraband, Lieutenant Starbuck?"

She puckered her mouth and let a long, slow puff of smoke out. "Won it in a card game."

Mal's mouth quirked. "Never was much good at cards."

"Then you should play with me. What do you have to wager?"

Mal kissed her shoulder. "Not much in the way of possessions you can carry away."

"And I already took your doctor."

"Now, Starbuck, if I'd thought that's what this was about, it never would have happened," he admonished lightly.

Kara grinned and put her cigar back to her lips. "Good to know, Cap."

* * *

Simon was waiting for her promptly when Kara made her way back to the Raider.

River pirouetted and stopped in front of Kara. "Two souls, too much alike," she said. "More than the sum of its parts. There will be a fight." She looked back at her brother.

Simon shrugged uncomfortably. "River...she can't understand what you're talking about."

River's forehead was wrinkled when she turned to glare at Kara. "Lips get in the way and you forgot how to speak with your heart," she remarked.

Kara blinked. What was this, poetry hour?

River looked at her hands. "Sex is about more than being nice," she added with a smile.

"The girl's got a disconcertin' way of sayin' things you wish she wouldn't," Mal said, walking up the hallway Kara'd come from.

River smiled at them both sweetly. "What a pretty couple," she said, before twirling and dancing back to her brother. "Just moments from the edge."

"Doc, need one of those moments before you go," Mal said, apparently unaffected by the foreboding feeling hitting Kara in the gut. She skeptically examined the girl. She looked young: too young for recruitment; too old to play pretend.

Simon nodded. "Of course." He looked at River.

She pulled away from him. "You're already gone," River said. She stepped back and took off at a run.

"She hasn't been well, Doc," Mal said, as she'd barely disappeared around the corner. "She's been sleeping more often'n not in Inara's shuttle. Sometimes pops up in the engine room..."

Simon bowed his head and nodded. "I knew it would be difficult. She's not used to--" He touched his wrinkled forehead anxiously. "She was alone for so long..."

"Right," the captain cut him off. "Got that. Point is, things aren't goin' too well without you."

Simon looked up at him hopefully for a moment, then cast his eyes on Kara. "Perhaps we could work out some kind of call system. I could--work from here."

Kara raised her hands, palms up and unwilling to be anyone’s emissary. "Hey, I can get you in to see the Commander, but that's all I can offer."

Simon swallowed and nodded. "Of course. I would appreciate that."

Mal looked annoyed. "Never should have let my crew be split up in the first place."

"Come on, Doc. Time to go." Kara looked at Mal. "We'll be in touch."

"You give the new instructions to Zoe, Doc?" Mal asked.

"Yes. I just tweaked the medicine a little. What she really needs is just a stable environment. I know you're doing the best you can--"

"That's right, Doctor. 'S all anybody's getting done around here." Mal swiveled away. "But don't you worry. We'll keep on, long as we're still flying."

Simon sighed. "Okay."

Kara zipped her flight suit all the way up and jerked her head toward the ship. "Let's go, Doc."

He followed her without question. "Why doesn't anybody call me Simon anymore?"

* * *

Simon watched the girl spit her fluoride rinse into the sink, spit again, and wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. She tossed her long hair back over her shoulder and slowly, submissively raised her eyes to him. She acted just like a woman uncomfortable with being in a reinforced glass cage.

He fiddled with the hem of his sleeve and peered at the military guard out of the corner of his eye. The guards never looked directly at the girl, but the one time Simon had seen her lose her temper and slam the cell door with the palm of her hand, the guards had taken all of two seconds to raise their weapons and threaten her life if she didn't step away.

It was an ominous place and reminded Simon of different people and somewhere else, more than he was comfortable with. Every time he was in here, he felt like River was standing in the corner, hugging her chest to hold herself together and babbling because this time, there was no escape. Her brother was one of her captors. Her brother was using his hands as a doctor to abet the treatment of a woman who'd done nothing but be designed by their enemy.

Simon looked at his hands. They were shaking.

"Good evening, Doctor Tam. And how is our patient?"

Simon turned quickly to Dr. Baltar, who was apparently both the Vice President and a very strange man. "She seems fine. Mood swings, some odd fluctuations in internal temperature--"

Dr. Baltar waved him off absently. "Not the Cylon, Doctor; that's my business. Your job is to look after the baby and let me know how soon we can operate."

Simon shuddered. "She's dilated three centimeters."

"Already?"

"It's the same as last week, Doctor, but what I'm really concerned about is her pH--"

"She's a Cylon, Dr. Tam," Dr. Baltar cut him off coolly. "Her body chemistry is entirely manufactured. You can hardly depend on your knowledge of human chemistry to make a diagnosis in this circumstance."

Simon sighed. "I'm not entirely sure what you expect from me here, Dr. Baltar. If I'm to treat this woman as a patient, you need to let me do my job."

"Believe me, having you here was not my idea," Dr. Baltar said with the same odd smile that seemed to be his default. "The Cylons should be far less accessible. However I was persuaded that since pregnancy and delivery is not my specialty, in fact far from it,” and his expression said he was happy to remove himself from the very concept, “it would be best to have someone like you here. Although you haven't entirely convinced anyone you can be trusted and part of my job is to note any potential sympathies you may develop."

Simon had spent a few moments during Dr. Baltar's speech imagining what Mal would say to shut Baltar's mouth if he were there, but his whole body tensed before he had a chance to process any ideas. Simon looked at Baltar in astonishment. His face was smooth and blank, but Simon just couldn't get over the feeling that he was being gleefully manhandled. Simon opened his mouth, then closed it. He was in over his head and it'd happened enough times in his life already to know the best way to handle it.

"I assure you, Dr. Baltar, my emotions are fully engaged elsewhere besides this ship," Simon stated, modulating his tone.

Baltar nodded smugly. "Let's keep it that way, shall we?"

Simon nodded, and looked at the Cylon in the cell. She wasn't his sister, and he was not in any way responsible to make a decision for the justice of her situation. He tried to see her the way others did--not Baltar, as Simon was pretty sure he was evil--but someone like Kara Thrace. He had never dealt with a Cylon in person; Cylons were like a fairytale to his childhood, and once faced with real evil, he’d thought the Alliance was bad enough. In the past few years, he’s come to know people personally affected by the Alliance, and then by Reavers, and now by these robots–and they have been people who told him all Cylons were programmed with an end goal of destroying the human race.

Not only was it not his responsibility, he didn't want it to be. This was the kind of responsibility it was best to avoid and not be forced to take.

* * *

Kara screwed up her face and gave Tyrol her best smart-ass pilot look. "Come on, Chief. You know all I need is an excuse to fly." Lee was across the hanger, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Tyrol snorted. "Least you don't bring 'er home as frakked up as your other ship, sir."

"I like to give you something to do," Kara retorted sweetly.

"You and every other officer on this ship," Tyrol grumbled.

"Hello, am I late?" Simon came up, breathless and wide-eyed at her other side.

Kara turned to him. "'Bout time. See you made the trip on your lonesome, again."

"As long as I always start from the same point and nobody blocks my rights or lefts." Simon smiled weakly. "Oh, the-- Dr. Baltar asked me to say hello from him. He said it with a rather odd smile."

Kara gave him a perfunctory grimace. "That's why we just call him Baltar, Doc."

Lee made his way over to them, and dismissed the Chief by handing him the clipboard. Tyrol nodded and left. "Heading out again, Kara? You must be getting pretty friendly with the crew aboard that ship."

"Maybe I just like the doctor," Kara said casually. She waved Simon ahead of her onto the ship.

"Well, it must be somebody," Lee answered, watching Simon board.

Kara shrugged, refusing to give anything away, aware it made him crazy. She'd been setting him aside this way for weeks, and three days ago he'd started making snide comments while they jogged and cynical jokes over cards, letting her know he wasn't content to play disinterested much longer.

As far as Kara figured, that didn't make it any more his business than it was in the first place. She handed him her flight check list. "Cleared for take-off, sir."

"I'll expect you back on time, Lieutenant."

She saluted him mockingly, and got her butt onto the Raider.

Not that she wasn't constantly on the look-out for a good way to piss Lee off, but he might be closer to the truth than he really thought. She was getting a little too comfortable with having sex back on regular rotation.

* * *

"And so I wired this through the hydraulics here, and the pressure regulator is working double-time here; this is threaded together through the--see this? I'm very proud of this. Am I boring you? Would you rather talk about sex?"

Kara straightened up. The inner workings of the firefly made no sense to her, and Kaylee's spit-job wiring system was even harder to understand. "Sex?" she repeated. She smiled at the expression on Kaylee's face.

"You have no idea how long I've been trying to get Simon into my bunk," Kaylee said, in exactly the same tone she mentioned the engine coupling she desperately desired.

Kara smiled. She traced one of the wires determinedly from one part of the FTL drive to another. Sometimes if she could touch the machine, it translated its meaning through her fingers. "He's the kind you have to rev up first. Hold him at a distance, wait for him to blow." Kara stuck out her tongue. "And I do mean blow."

"I still think Wash and Zoe are lucky. How was we supposed to know we'd all wish we'd got married before the world got ended?"

Kara grinned. She started to answer, and instead she sounded like Mal: "The world got ended? When'd that happen?"

Kaylee giggled. "You've got the captain down real good."

Kara pushed herself off the floor. "Yeah. I better go find your errant doctor."

Kaylee sat with her legs folded comfortably underneath her, overalls slipping down her shoulders. "No sex today?"

Kara looked back at her and rolled her eyes. "I guess I might have a *little* time."

Kaylee grinned brilliantly. “You should *make* time,” she said seriously, the words chasing Kara out into the hallway.

River was standing in the middle of the passage way, but Kara didn’t notice her until she was two steps away. "Hi, River," she said.

"Starbuck is not a word," River said.

"Pilots aren't big on grammar."

River smiled. "It's not a word but it has purpose. The meaning is to confound. Bends reality. Special," she added.

Kara nodded. "Okay." She agreed evenly, it being her best idea for an evasive maneuver.

River's hand was on her face before she could blink. The only reason Kara didn't flinch and then take her down hard was because it was so gentle. "You're my favorite," River said softly. "You know what silence is."

"Yeah, and I hate it," Kara said shortly. She removed River's hand and gave it back. River stepped aside and Kara felt her eyes on her back all the way through the ship.

So instead of seeking Mal out to bug him into frakking around for the rest of five minutes, she busted into the companion's shuttle.

"Lieutenant," Inara said, not moving. Kara let her eyes drift down Inara's naked chest, since she seemed to want her to look. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"You can put your dress back on and stop acting like a whore."

Inara smiled slowly, and watched her own hands as she brought the loose neck of her dress back over her shoulders. "But according to you, that's what I am."

"Oh, I'd love to frak with you, believe me. But it's not your profession that bothers me. It's your training."

"Do you have any idea the amount of schooling a Companion goes through before being licensed?"

"I'm aware," Kara said through stiff lips.

"If you find me so personally objectionable, why do you keep seeking out my company?" Inara asked, unruffled.

One of Kara's best skills was making people angry. So angry they fell apart, lashed out, and went crazy. It was something in which she'd found pride. But she could see Inara would need equipment like a locked room and a bucket of dirty water to crack. Kara hated people who couldn't even erect a little pretend anger. Unfortunately, she had no orders to work on this one. "It's my job," she said. "And I do it."

She jogged down to the cargo bay, since she was late and irritated. Mal swung into step with her half-way down and she slowed for him. "Have you ever made Inara angry?" she asked.

Mal gave her a curious glance. "I've seen her get a mite irritated," he said.

"That it?"

"Don't think I haven't worked on it a little."

"That's what I thought."

He stopped, and she stopped with him. "You be likely to inform me if you had a problem with one of my crew," he suggested.

"Very likely," Kara returned. She paused to think about it. She liked Mal; it was more than just the sex. She generally avoided having sex with people she’d taken to dislike, especially since Baltar, but sex with Mal was the kind that made her more fond of him. She appreciated that in a man. "My mother was a whore," Kara said.

Mal's eyes didn't even flicker. "Is that right."

"She was a Companion, until she got pregnant. Thought she was in love, dropped out of the Guild..." Kara paused, because the next part was the hard part to tell in the story. "My father was a musician and couldn't keep her in the manner a Companion expects. He was...free spirited." The description was heavily layered with insult in her memory. "She couldn't control him. They split, or she made him leave, whichever, and her life didn't get much better. Eventually I took off and joined the Fleet." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Doesn't mean I hold it against your girl. Just know that I know what goes into Companion training."

Mal tucked his chin in acknowledgement. "Have the feeling there's a good deal left out of that story, Starbuck," he said, gentle as he’d ever been.

"Could be there is." Kara grinned and leaned into him: blatant distraction tactics. "But you've seen enough of me stripped naked to last you awhile."

"Beg to disagree with that," Mal said, accepting her advance and pulling her in further.

"Too bad I have to leave now," Kara said as he kissed her directly between the eyes.

Kara rolled her eyes back into her head in reaction, and dropped her head back to kiss him proper. She pulled back and smacked her lips in his face, wriggling her eyebrows.

"She's not my girl," he finally responded, lips catching up with the thought.

"She is in the same sense that the other girls on your ship are," Kara said. She cocked her head and didn't try to hide her smug grin.

"All girls currently on my ship or just the regulars?" he prodded back.

Kara opened her mouth and laughed loudly, pleased with his nerve. "You keep talking, Captain."

* * *

The Commander of the Air Guard and the ex-surgeon from Coruscent stood in the Cylon's cell.

"What do you do when the enemy uses your humanity against you?" Captain Adama mused.

Simon considered the seriousness of his question, watching the Cylon inside her glass and mesh cage. She paced back and forth, eerily like an entertainment holo. It was still hard to watch. Even harder when the father of her child was allowed to visit, standing on the other side and talking to her through the intercom. "There used to be these creatures that roamed deep space, called Reavers. I didn't understand when I encountered them the first time...I didn't know why the captain ran, no questions asked. It was just that the way to handle them to was to avoid them altogether." Just like he would have liked to avoid the people who held River captive, but in that case he had no choice.

Lee looked from the doctor, with new respect, to Cylon Sharon in the cell. "I wish we had that option," he said, and as he said it he accepted that it wasn't so.

"I can hear what you're saying, you know," she said, suddenly turning and glaring at both of them. "How do you justify talking about me like I'm not even here?"

"You're the one that snuck into the fleet," Lee said, turning away.

"Why did she sneak into the fleet? If I may ask," Simon added, having blurted it out.

Lee looked at Sharon, an obvious deferment. Waiting for her to answer. Sharon wrapped her arms around herself and looked away.

"We want to learn from--you. Humanity," she finally said. "As children do from their parents."

"And you also want our children to raise as yours," Lee snapped suddenly. "You haven't figured out how to recreate naturally on your own yet, have you."

"We are far more advanced than you are," she retorted. "We rely on God to provide the next step." She put one hand on her stomach. "It has already begun. You can't stop it. You won't be *allowed.*"

Simon felt a small shudder work its way up his fingers. Would he ever learn to judge people? He looked at Captain Adama, who seemed neither impressed nor frightened.

Lee in fact stood there letting the rage argue with cold fact. If they killed the Cylon now, she might relay information to the rest of her models. If they kept her alive, the thing that came out of her might be one step worse than the Cylons were already. No matter what they did, it would cause dissention in the fleet.

He did what he had to. Didn't mean he had to like doing it. He stepped up to the plexi-shield. "Here's the thing, we're only keeping you around because unlike you, we value life and you're carrying at least half of one. But you know what? No one ever said we *needed* an incubator to carry it."

He watched her face tense up, then turn angry and freeze there. She slammed up against the clear gate from the other side and he stepped into her movement forcefully, not backing down.

The claxon rang. "Action stations, action stations. Alert pilots to the landing bay immediately. Action stations, action stations, set condition one."

Lee grabbed Simon's arm and pulled him with him out of the cell, past the guards. Simon trailed along behind him down several decks at a run, not knowing what else to do.

Simon stopped abruptly in the Viper bay, standing on the fringe of the hyper activity. "What's the sit-rep?" Captain Adama yelled to Lieutenant Thrace.

"Three raiders..." Simon caught sight of her sitting in the cockpit of her fighter plane. He stood back and watched the deck crew maneuver the planes into the launch tubes, attach them to the mechanical catapult, and fling them out fast enough to hit space at high speeds. Simon had never seen anything like it.

"Hey, you look like space slag. Never seen the Vipers launch before, huh?"

Simon found he was being watched by a young girl with a dirty orange jumpsuit and greasy hair. She tucked a wrench into one of her pockets and approached him. "You're the doctor that's been working on that Cylon." Simon suddenly noticed she didn't sound friendly. "That's what they're out there fighting, you know." Her eyes were sizing him up, cold and unwilling to be lenient. Simon felt his spine slowly repositioning. His chin came up. "Our people die almost every time they face them. You think they care?"

Simon stared at her. "I've been following orders like everybody else," he said.

"You could get rid of her. You have the opportunity to get rid of her," the girl said urgently. "It's easy. I could show you."

"Cally," someone said sharply, and walked toward them. Simon recognized the chief mechanic on the ship. "Come on," he said, and reached for her. "You have workspace to clean up."

"Something should be done," Cally said, her eyes flickering from wild to controlled and back again. "If you're not a Cylon, you have to do something! To prove it!"

"Cally." The Chief's voice sharpened further. "Go. Now." He spun her around and pointed the other direction. She looked back at Simon, and her frantic eyes chilled him.

He turned away to leave and felt an inextricable terror for his sister. And then he looked over his shoulder, because he'd learned to watch his back, and kept an eye on Cally and anyone else who he thought might be watching him as he left the bay.

Quite suddenly, the battleship felt like a very big and dangerous place.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

"Are we sure we trust him?" Baltar asked, glaring at the new doctor.

Kara said nothing, so Lee spoke up, "He's fine." He looked at his father, who glanced from the two of them to Simon, and nodded.

The formality of these military tribunals had been almost entirely abandoned since Kara's return from Caprica with the pregnant Cylon. Lee wasn't sure how he felt about it. On the one hand, it meant they could still deal with the Cylon without a fuss from the fleet, or without the Quorum of Twelve using it for political means. On the other, it meant fewer people were heard. But, looking at Karl "Helo" Agarthon, Kara's crazy pilot friend, Lee was more inclined these days to think that wasn't a completely bad idea.

"This situation is too complicated to be dealt with here, but we have a new question to face." Commander Adama glanced at the group in front of him: Baltar, Simon Tam, Helo, Kara, and Lee. "Captain Adama has suggested Sharon, the Cylon, might be able to call up the Raiders at will."

"Particularly when she's angry, or upset," Lee said. "They appeared out of nowhere just when I was starting to argue with her."

"She said you were threatening her," Helo, predictably, snapped back.

"Have you forgotten she's the enemy, Lieutenant?" Lee said sharply.

"I haven't forgotten she's also pregnant with my child. That's a real baby we're talking about. Just ask the doctor."

Lee turned to his father. "If our goal is to save the life of the baby, I suggest we remove the child and get rid of the robot. She's only using it as a shield to stay in the fleet. Who knows what information she's picking up that she might *still* be relaying back to the Cylons."

"You don't know that! She's different! How could you know?"

"No, no, no," Baltar blurted, making Helo look at him sharply. "She's not different," he said, his eyes darting back and forth. "The Cylons are all programmed for specific tasks and they always carry them out." He paused. "When I was interviewing the other--the former Sharon model, before she was killed, I understood that though she was never aware of her ultimate purpose, and indeed that purpose might not have been pre-programmed but rather was the result of a procession of events, she had no choice but to follow her orders. Absolutely no choice, that is. It was not at all a conscious decision."

"Are you suggesting that the Cylons can monitor events within the fleet?"

"Well, of course. She did say there were eight other models hidden within the fleet."

"Including the one we're *keeping* within the fleet," Lee said.

"Um, excuse me. I'm sorry, I don't--can they do that? Uplink to one another, send information?" Simon had been silently assimilating the information he'd been invited to hear, but now his face was confused. "How can she possibly look so human and be a computer?"

"We don't know how it happened, Doctor," the Commander answered. "Though we know the Cylons have labs to practice breeding with human genetic material. But the Cylons were manufactured as advanced, mobile computers. Their outward appearance was designed."

"That's incredible," he said.

"Yes, isn't it," Baltar remarked. "I'm afraid it's really more my kind of science than yours. Why is he here, again?"

"He's taking care of the baby," Helo said irritably. "And she's not just computer parts. She has emotions. She may not be human, but she's trying to be. That has to count for something."

"They use emotional simulations as manipulation, Helo,” Lee said, with what he thought passed for patience. “They've done it every time we've encountered them in humanoid form."

"Look," Helo said, turning on Lee. "I'm the only one around here willing to face up to the fact that now that they look, feel, and act human, we have to reevaluate who they are. I'm not saying they're all good. But they can't all be bad, either."

"They're all the *same,*" Lee insisted. "Of course they're all bad!"

"Actually, I suspect there are 12 distinct personality profiles, one for each model," Baltar interjected.

They ignored him. "You think that your loving her makes her better in itself," Lee pointed out to Helo, coldly.

"Well, yeah," Helo said belligerently. "At least until you guys decide to toss me in hack so news doesn't get out that your narrow-minded rules are falling apart!"

"We never needed a rule about humans fraternizing with Cylons, Lieutenant Agarthon," said Commander Adama. "That *is* the point under debate."

"I fell in love with her because of her personality," Helo insisted. "I fell in love with her before I knew she wasn't...a *person*...if I could just turn that off, it would make me less of a person, too."

"Exactly," Lee said. "Love is more about you than the person you love. So keep your love and let us throw her the frak off the ship. She's endangering the entire Fleet."

"Bunch of crap," Helo shot back, furious. He darted Kara a look. "Are you going to back me up on this at all?"

"I never agreed with you," she said.

"Well you can agree with me about my feelings! I saw your frakking apartment, don't tell me you know how to just shut it off!" Helo said heatedly.

In an instant, Kara stiffened up. Her expression turned harsh. "He's right, you know. The Cylons study love and emotions and they use them to see how they work. You're an *experiment* to them, Helo, and you're *working*."

His face flooded with anger. "So your feelings somehow mean more than mine?"

"We aren't basing this decision on feelings," the Commander interjected, with a hint of disgust. "We deal in facts. I've seen nothing that convinces me the Cylons are more than advanced cybernetics."

Kara wasn't done. "Besides, I was never in love with a lying piece of hardware!"

Helo caught her with a good upper cut to the chin, tossing her head back from her neck. Simon and Baltar jerked at the movement, knocking shoulders and jumping away from each other just as quickly. Lee took Helo down immediately, snapping his head back, followed by the rest of his body with a solid jab. "You stay there," he said between gritted teeth, standing over him.

Commander Adama was standing beside his desk, observing them. He looked at Kara, who was touching her chin gingerly. She had split her lip with her teeth. "This is a military decision, Lieutenant, and she *is* still a member of a force seeking to destroy the human race. You think about that while you're in the brig for a couple days." He nodded to Lee, who yanked Helo roughly to his feet and carted him away. 

"People cover up their emotions half the time, anyway," Helo grumbled, eyes on Kara as Lee pulled him out of the room. "Easy enough to call somebody else fake."

*

"How is your jaw, Lieutenant Thrace?"

Kara brushed him off. "I deserved it. You look a little fragged yourself."

Simon hesitated. "It's just so much easier to know who the bad guys are when they've tried to cut up your sister." He watched her duck under the wing of the Raider, out of sight. "I guess personal feelings are easier than an ideal."

Kara smiled at him when she reappeared. "I've had that thought."

"Kara, I'm short a pilot. Can you take this CAP?"

"I'm taking the doc to his ship."

Lee scowled. "So put it off."

"I would, but they have my Raider ready, and here he is," she said, gesturing to Simon.

"It's non-emergent," Lee said implacably. 

Kara stopped and crossed her arms. "It's on my schedule. We've been cleared. Come on, Lee, he needs to see his sister."

Lee shook his head but turned away, resigned. "And you need a quick frak," he muttered, plenty loud enough.

Simon held his tongue during their trip to Serenity. Mal, River, and Kaylee met them at the air lock.

Mal took hold of Kara's chin. "What happened here?"

All she said was, "I've had worse." It made her angry that she wasn't angry. But Helo wasn't like Lee; he was far too reasonable to shout at. Most of the time.

"Betcha can't get much kissin' done with a split lip," Kaylee observed.

"Who needs kissin'? I'd settle for a piece of trim, wouldn't bother with any other ruttin' business." Mal's crewman Jayne was lifting weights in the alcove off the bay. He set his bar weight back on its pegs and sat up. He had that hungry look in his eyes, one that wasn't unfamiliar in Kara's line of work. When it came to certain parts of Mal's crew, keeping them cooped up and purposeless like this on his ship was like decommissioning the military fighters on the Galactica. It was caging wild animals. Kara gave Mal a speculative look.

"I s'pect your problem is part of your question, Jayne," Mal said mildly.

"Oh, sure," he jeered. "You can talk."

"Mouth open, words coming out," River said softly.

Mal smiled. "That's right, little one. Jayne--"

"I hear them Cylons are pretty good at sexing. Maybe they ought to farm them out to us poor bungers in the fleet."

"Jayne, you're disgusting." Inara stood on the stairs. "Are you even aware of what comes out of your mouth?"

"The trouble is," Kara spoke, "The Cylons don't just sex. They tend to get all wound up in your emotions, too. They love a man who commits."

Jayne shuddered. "They *are* evil."

Simon pulled the engine part Kara had scrounged up for him from his medical kit. "Kaylee, I brought you that--"

Kaylee jumped and grabbed it. "Simon! You got one!" she squealed.

Simon shifted. "Well, actually--"

Kara waved him off. "Made her happy, Doc." She gestured toward Kaylee, who was taking off at a run, with her new part.

"Come, Simon," River said, taking him by the hand.

"Shipboard romance suddenly seems beneficial to the well-being of my engine," said Mal.

"You talking about me or her?" Kara asked. She smirked at him. "'Cause I don't do romance."

Mal nodded. "Sure you do," he said, with certainty. He turned to Zoe, who was walking up behind him. "We good?"

"Yes, sir."

"Doing a little business within the Fleet?" Kara asked, curious.

Mal glanced at her as he turned toward the living quarters. "Could be. Could be I'm having a better month than you are," he added.

Kara smiled slightly. "Better than the one before." She caught up to him on the stairs. "Don't you want to know how much you have to do with that?"

He glanced at her without expression. "I hate to think I'm ascribed to anyone's feeling tetchy."

"Then it's a good thing you didn't ask."

Mal was almost impossible to tease, Kara was noticing. She couldn't help liking that he was so difficult. "You got something else to be doing?"

Mal paused and looked around. "Uh, nope. Can't say I do."

I'd been a long time since Kara had extra to spend in bed—since before the Cylons’ return--and it'd probably be longer after all this. It was easy enough to tell Mal was less used to being still or content than even she was, but he didn't move when she stayed curled up on his bunk. He reached across her to the floor and came back with a whole cigar in his hand. He handed it to her without commentary, and she accepted it with a raised eyebrow.

"Your crew getting a little restless, Captain?" Kara murmured, sniffing gently. She really never liked the smell of these things. She just liked how the distinct it is.

He traced his index finger down her right bicep, and his eyes were on the scar running down the side of her belly. "There may be a mite too much cooperation going on for their taste." He looked away, absently. "Independents, an’ all."

She looked across the room at Mal's brown coat. Then an alert sounded over the ship's comm system.

Mal had a leg up and over Kara, to the floor, before she could sit up. "Somebody on my ship," he said, grabbing his boots and pants.

Part of Kara's job was to dress quickly, but she trailed Mal leaving his quarters, and handed up his shirt when he reached back for it. He pounded along the walkway toward the cargo bay ahead of her, but Kara stopped short when she realized the breach was at one of the shuttle doors up ahead.

Lee, Baltar, and a team of Marines were pushing Inara ahead of them into the ship proper. Her eyes were wide, but her exterior snapped back into neutral when she looked up and saw Mal.

Mal stopped and kept buttoning his shirt, as though they weren’t worth interrupting his dressing. "What the hell are you doing on my ship?"

"This is a military operation, Captain,” Lee reeled off. “We request that you order your crew to gather in the cargo bay area."

"Lee," Kara said loudly, stopping up from behind Mal. "Are you frakking kidding me?"

Lee looked squarely at her forehead. "According to the Cylon in our brig, there's another model on this ship."

"I thought we were done with being dragged all confused and indecent from our bunks in the middle of a rest cycle," Wash said, being lead up behind Kara, with Zoe. "Guess I spoke to soon," he added, surveying the scene.

"My pilot has a good point, though, and I'm wonderin' what happened to that idea of martial law bein' a bad thing." Mal drawled, looking at Lee. Kara watched Zoe watching Mal's stance, waiting for his lead.

Lee held out a hexagonal document. "Permission to board, search, and seize any vessel that may be harboring a Cylon or material with reasonable potential to aid an enemy of the Fleet. Freshly signed by the President of the Colonies. You and your men are ordered to stand down."

"Fine," Mal said dryly. "Can't speak for my womenfolk, though."

Lee looked past Mal to the Marines bringing Simon and River. River was screaming flat-out, struggling against the two big men who held her arms. "They come in odd numbers and bring needles! No, no, no," she cried. "They don't know how to use them and they hurt, they hurt... Simon!" she twisted her head to look behind. "Cover your eyes, you're too young for this."

"What's going on?" Lee snapped.

"She broke my nose," one of the men said, holding an arm over his face.

"I told you not to wake her up," Simon said angrily, letting the other men restrain him. "Captain Adama, what is this? What are you doing with River?"

River's leg snapped up and knocked one of the Marines forward into the other. A splash of blood landed on the walkway from his uncovered nose.

Baltar stepped forward. "Take her onto the Raptor and I'll sedate her."

"You can't do that!" Simon exclaimed, lunging forward; Mal stopped him by grabbing the back of his waistband.

Kara stepped in front of the Marines. "No frakking way."

"Stand down, Lieutenant," Lee ordered sharply. Kara glared at him. He stepped up to her. "Stand. Down, Lieutenant."

"You're going to arrest people for being a Cylon based on the word *of* a Cylon?" she asked in disbelief.

"We're testing all of them," Lee replied. "Might as well start with her. *You* said she was suspicious."

"I said she was strange, Lee. If I'd meant suspicious I would have *said* suspicious."

"River's not a Cylon," Simon said, holding a trembling River to his bare chest. "She's my sister. I've-- I was there when she was *born*."

Baltar spoke up. "I understand she was taken away from you for an extended time when she was 14."

"Yes, but what--"

"It's possible that the Cylons can clone people we know," Lee explained. "We don't know yet."

"That's the point, Lee," Kara insisted. "You can't lock people up based on suspicion. Especially considering the source!"

Lee looked down his nose at her for a moment, then stepped away. "She's right," he said. Baltar spluttered momentarily, but he ignored him. "Take them to the infirmary. Dr. Tam, can you get your sister there yourself?" Simon held River tightly and nodded. Lee signaled six of his team. "Make sure you round up *all* the crew." He turned back to Kara, again not looking directly at her face. "Lead the way, Lieutenant," he challenged.

Kara turned on her heel and walked down out of the cargo bay, into the infirmary. The others followed: Lee and the injured Marine and two others herding Wash, Mal, Zoe, and Simon with River between.

They were joined half-way there by the rest of them: three men with a furious and bloodied Jayne, and a single Marine guiding Book and Kaylee.

"What's goin' on, Cap'n?" Kaylee asked. Kara didn't look back.

"Seems the nice man wants to take some blood, little Kaylee," Mal said.

"Make a line," Lee directed, gesturing to the wall around the infirmary at the bottom of the steps.

Baltar stood with his hands wrapped around his biceps in the door of the infirmary. "I must strenuously object, Captain Adama. I can't work with this equipment."

"I'm sure Dr. Tam will help. You can watch him," Lee said. "He needs to do the draw on his sister, anyway."

Baltar twitched. "As both the Vice President of the Colonies and the head of the Cylon Investigations, I really should be in charge of these decisions..."

Lee raised his hand to cut him off. "Dr. Tam, Dr. Baltar will tell you exactly what he needs from your sister. If you cooperate with us now, the whole process will be that much simpler."

Simon didn't look happy, but he gently guided River into the room. She tried to pull away from him at the door, and looked at Lee and Kara. "Friction makes sparks," she said softly. "Smoke doesn't always mean fire."

"Come on, River," Simon said softly. "It'll just be a little blood." He stated firmly.

Baltar tossed his head in irritation and went in. He set his bag down and started pulling out needles and vials.

Lee followed them in. Kara crossed her arms and stood across from Serenity’s crew. Mal stood at the front of them, Zoe behind him. She could feel both glare back at her accusingly, though she didn’t look at them.

Lee turned from watching Baltar to look at Kara. He walked toward the door of the infirmary, jerking his head at her to come.

Kara pushed away from the wall and followed him down the passage. She glanced at the line of Serenity's crew, guarded by the Marines, but kept walking.

"What are you going to do if there's a Cylon among this crew?" Lee demanded, when he paused at the opposite end of the hall.

"I don't know, sir," Kara said blandly.

He glared at her. "You hate them just as much as I do."

"Of course I do," she hissed. "I just think they should be treated as people until proven otherwise."

Lee's forehead crinkled with irritation. "I...can't argue with that."

Kara let go of a grin. "I know." It turned into a laugh. "Why do you even bother?"

Lee sighed. "Could you take the members of the crew who have already been tested back to their quarters? Just while we get through this."

Kara nodded. "Okay."

He looked at her closely. "Okay," he repeated.

Jayne was done, and being held for her when they walked back. "Handcuffs, sir?" one asked.

Kara looked at Jayne. "Nah, this one's docile as a kitten." She took his arm.

Lee stopped them. "Handcuff him," he directed the Marine.

"He's not under arrest," Kara reminded him.

"He's under temporary military custody," Lee retorted. He nodded at the Marine again. "And *you*'ve already been smacked in the mouth once today," he added.

Kara rolled her eyes. "I won that."

"Stole it from me." Lee nodded once Jayne's hands were secured in front of him, and let Kara guide him down the hall toward the up-stairs.

Once they were alone on the main deck, Jayne made his move, twisting abruptly to shove his elbow into her stomach, just a moment after she’d moved it. She took his legs out from under him and used his body weight to wrench his arms upward in their sockets as he went down. Jayne started yelling a long string of epithets in Chinese, concluding simply with, "gorram it!"

"Is there a problem up there?" Lee's voice came toward them.

"No!" Kara called back. "He's even more docile than usual. Tell the Captain he might want to check on the level of oxygen in the atmosphere!" 

She took Jayne to his bunk and locked him in. When she walked back to the infirmary, Baltar was about to stick Inara. Kara watched closely from the window.

Simon was gentle with the needle, requiring only one puncture to draw blood. The inside of Inara's arm was pale, almost white, yet Simon's clean, neat hand looked wrong wrapped around it. Kara looked at her face. She was watching the needle, both as it pierced the skin and as it filled with red.

Simon finished with Inara and she carefully accepted her arm back, tucking it into her red robe. She looked up and met Kara's eyes, for one moment.

Simon offered to see to the Marine's broken nose, after he finished drawing blood from Mal, Zoe, and Wash. But Baltar insisted on taking Simon's blood. It took him three pricks to hit a vein.

"Now that you have your pint of blood, I hope you plan to get off my ship," Mal said, not pleasantly, and sizing up the men and their armory. "I 'spect I have a fair amount of mending to do where you violated my hull."

Simon came out of the infirmary, rubbing his own arm uncomfortably. He looked at River, who had gone silent and glassy eyed but stayed close to his side.

Baltar followed, hauling his bag of blood samples and looking as distracted as he usually did. "Well," he said. "What do you intend to do now, Captain?"

"First thing we do is evacuate the children," Lee said wearily, looking at the team captain. "Go ahead and send some of your men upstairs and get started." Lee looked at the rest of them: Zoe, Mal, Wash, and Inara, standing in a circle made of Marines.

"Leave me here to guard the crew," Kara said. "The tests will take a while. I'll make sure they don't run."

"I can't spare my best pilot for guard duty," Lee said.

Kara swallowed her anger. "Why?" she demanded simply.

Lee looked away. "I don't think it would be appropriate, Kara."

She stepped up to him, regardless of her gaping shirt. "Are you questioning my loyalty? Sir?" she demanded in a low voice.

"No, just your ability to stay in your pants. As usual!" he hissed back, between his teeth but loud enough.

"This is not about that," she said fiercely. "This is my job. Let me do it."

Lee stared at her coldly. "I don't think this is some kind of 'outside the box' way of working, Lieutenant. I think you just plain frakked up."

"Lee," she insisted. "Please."

He blinked at her. "Why?"

She eased off a little, swallowed. "Baltar wouldn't like it," she murmured.

Lee grimaced. "True. But I need a better reason."

"If you two are done having your little lovers' spat, I'd like to lodge a formal protest," Baltar interrupted.

Lee turned his look on Baltar. "It's my call, Baltar."

"Maybe you should worry about how reliable your so-called Cylon test is," Kara said. "As far as we know, it's never even worked."

"My test works just fine, thank you," Baltar retorted, brushing off his lapels. "I've made the necessary adjustments."

"According to Dr. Baltar, it will take at least two days to run this many tests," Lee said.

"Unless, of course, the first test comes up positive," Baltar pointed out, caught up in the possibility.

Kara scowled at him. "Then you'd better get crackin', huh, Doc?"

Baltar looked taken aback. The expression froze on his face for a moment, as if he were still listening. Then he shrugged and said. "Yes, let's get going, shall we, Captain?" He took off up the stairs at a trot.

Lee looked at Kara and shrugged off the incident. "Keep them contained, keep them monitored. Report to Galactica every 4 hours."

Kara stepped back and gave him a fancy salute. She smiled sweetly. "I'm your best, huh, Lee?"

"Screw you," he sighed. She followed him upstairs to see the orphans being herded toward the firefly’s second shuttle. 

Boxey waved at Kara. "Which one do you think it is?" one of the other kids was asking him.

"I don't know; they were all nice to me," Boxey answered.

"I thought that one with the white hair was weird," said another.

"He's a priest!"

"I don't like that one guy," one of the little girls piped up, detailing her opinion as she loaded through the hatch way.

Kara made sure Lee and Baltar set off in the ships before she had the Marines line the crew up in the cargo bay. She stood in front of the uniformed men. "I want two men in the engine room, one outside the bridge, and one on each shuttle lock. Crew has the run of the ship. If I hear even a hint of ill will, I'll re-arm the entire crew. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," the Marines answered.

"Do you *understand* me?" Kara repeated herself.

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Dismissed." Kara turned around. "I'm gonna let you get Jayne out of his bunk, Captain. He's gotta leave his weapons in there."

"I'll need a moment with *my* crew, Lieutenant," Mal said, quiet but stern.

Kara nodded and left them alone.

*

Lee leaned on one arm against the frame of Helo's cell in the brig. "You're a frakking idiot, you know that?"

"That's the popular opinion."

"Kara's the only person on this ship who's been defending you since you got back."

Helo's hands were clasped over the top of his head and he didn't look up. "I know. Believe me, I feel worse about Kara than anything else." He coughed quietly. "I thought she'd stop by anyhow. Would you tell her--sorry, from me?"

"She's busy protecting somebody else's right to love a Cylon right now. On Serenity."

Helo stood up. "You found another Cylon on that ship?"

"Yeah." Lee pushed away from the bars. "Not another Sharon; a whole new model."

Helo leaned his forehead against the steel bars. "How many more are there?"

"There's supposed to be twelve, if you trust they're telling us the truth about that much. We've identified half. " Lee didn't know what to make of Helo. Kara counted him as a friend, though he didn't really seem like her type. Lee would stake money on her never having frakked him, but then he's lost good money that way before.

"You know,” Helo said, as though he’d just thought of it, “What we really need to solve this mess is to ID all of them. Post pictures. So they couldn’t infiltrate the Fleet."

"And what about the ones people are already attached to?"

Helo sighed. "I don't know. Don't ask me. I just don't know anymore." He looked up carefully. "Look, Captain. I'm not doing this because, in the grand scheme of things, it's right. I'm doing it because...if I didn't? I wouldn't be me anymore. I wouldn't be...human."

Lee turned away. "That's exactly what I don't like about it, Helo. It might make you human, but it still means the Cylons won."

*

Simon was walking around like an automaton, observing abstractedly the Marines guarding the ship and watching his sister with wariness. He watched Lieutenant Thrace watching the Marines, and understood his sister was in immediate danger. And it terrified him. He kept her close, or with one of the other crew members. She had been oddly quiet since he took her blood and accused him of giving her away in bits.

Today she was with Book and Inara and Mal had pulled him onto the bridge, quietly, with a hand on his arm. “You tell me everything that's been going on on that ship,” was all Mal said. He sat down across from him, at the helm, and Simon licked his lips nervously. It was a repeat of the one and only time Simon had asked him whether he should worry Mal would kill him in his sleep.

He told him what he understood about the Cylon on Galactica: how she'd lived among them, pretending to be human and loyal to the Fleet. He explained all the information he knew, and everything he'd observed, and he still didn't feel he’d pulled his weight. It was all too confusing, and he'd never understood what it all meant, not even when he thought it would never affect them on Serenity.

“Captain—Mal--what are you going to do?” Simon asked softly, when they'd been sitting too long in silence.

Mal was merely watching the blackness and the stars outside. “Long's we've got the sky, and a pilot, we can run,” he said. “Could be the Fleet's no better than the Alliance; would come as no surprise to me.”

Simon's head was full of questions and concerns, but he'd learned to trust Mal's decisions. And if Mal's decisions made no sense, then, he'd learned to find little things he could to along the way: support their passage. “We're with you, whatever happens,” he said.

Mal looked at him. “I know.”

*

River makes the Marines nervous. Partly because she hurt some of them and partly because she could be a Cylon, but mostly because she talks crazy. Kara has taken it upon herself to watch our for her, run interference between the Marines and the crew’s imminent need to defend her. "She aches," River told her the morning Lee and Baltar were returning. "Wants to be free, but it's an illusion. Like a glass cage."

"She's talking about Serenity," Kaylee remarked. She was curled up on some equipment in the cargo bay, her chin resting on her knees. "Serenity's...."

"Sad. Lonely," River whispered. "Never felt so alien before."

Kara gathered everyone into the bay for Lee and Baltar. "Just barely got my ship patched up after the last time," Mal remarked. "Hope they don't scuff the paint again."

"Think they gassed up the shuttle before they brought it back?" Wash asked. 

"Could per maybe haps not board my ship at all, I'm thinking," Mal stated.

The results had to be delivered in person because ship-to-ship communication never was never completely secure and information was sensitive in the Fleet. Baltar had come to make the announcement, and he didn't make it easy. Kara stood tensely at Lee's side as he built it up for a long moment, until Lee finally shifted irritably and announced, "She's not a Cylon."

Everyone exhaled in relief. "Well, of course not," said Kaylee defensively. She smiled at River.

"But there is a Cylon aboard this ship," Baltar went on, enjoying the drama. Kara twitched, scanning the crew and seeing ready denial on their faces. Inara didn't move, except her eyes.

Baltar looked at Inara. "It's her."

Kaylee's mouth fell open. "What? Well, that's crazy talk! 'Nara's not a *robot*!"

River's eyes filled with tears. "Not a robot. More than mechanical parts."

Mal spoke loudly and his crew subsided at his voice. "Don't much like people accusin' my crew."

"You’re going to have to accept it, Captain Reynolds," Lee said. "It's not an accusation, it's a fact."

"No, no," Simon insisted quickly. "It's not possible. She's--very real. Unless you think she was programmed to do everything, precognizant, very far in advance --and that's not even possible, she was *responding*. She reacted to unpredictable events. She was kind. It was--human sensitivity."

"I don't know what to tell you, Dr. Tam," Baltar said smugly. "The result was conclusive."

"I hope you checked it twice," Kara said under her breath. Baltar shot her a look.

"Well, I don't believe it. I absolutely insist on seeing the test myself," Simon suddenly declared. Kara watched him exchange a quick look with Mal.

"Doctor--" Lee frowned.

"I treated your people. I worked under classified circumstances. Call it professional courtesy," Simon said firmly, looking Lee and Baltar in the eyes.

Baltar protested. "Captain, this is ridiculous."

For Lee, there was no decision to make. "The Cylon can be quarantined on this ship." He looked at Kara. "Lieutenant Thrace will begin interrogation. Dr. Baltar, you can stay here and supervise, if you wish."

"Oh, frak me," Kara said dryly.

Baltar started to fuss. "Do you have a secure room on this ship?" He demanded, scanning the crew at random.

"I won't be locking up my own crew aboard my own ship," Mal said. "Not unless it's under my own orders."

"It's either that or we remove the Cylon--"

"Alleged Cylon," Simon inserted.

"Or we move the alleged Cylon," Lee amended patiently, "to Galactica. Cylons are dangerous. It doesn't matter that you know her, or think you know her--"

Kara looked at Inara. "Maybe she'd like to cooperate. Ever think to ask?"

Inara blinked and raised her head. "Of course," she said instantly and through bloodless lips. "I will speak to Lieutenant Thrace. No one else. And only on this ship."

Kara looked at the men smugly. "There, you see?"

*

Simon's audience with the Commander of the Fleet had been a long time delayed. He'd been told numerous times that Commander Adama was busy meeting the needs of the Fleet, but that he appreciated Simon's work.

This time, Simon had refused to be put off. He told Lee Adama that he'd go to the Quorum of Twelve in order to be heard, if he had to, and Lee ushered him into Adama's quarters by the end of the day.

During the course of the day, Simon had the run of Dr. Baltar’s lab. Lieutenant Gaeta had set up a second Cylon test with Inara's fresh blood sample. It would be finished running through Baltar's diagnostics by tomorrow morning. Simon didn't trust Baltar's programming, and it would take him some time to work through the layered coding, but for now restarting the test was the best he could do.

Commander Adama shoved aside his dinner when Lee brought Simon into his room. He stood up, touched the top button of his uniform, and walked around the desk. "Dr. Tam. I understand you've been a great help with the Cylon pregnancy."

"I was happy to try, Commander. However, I'm here to protest the treatment of the--of my ship as a whole, as a matter of fact. You're treating us as though we are expendable, and I want to know what gives you the right."

"I'm afraid it's a military right, Doctor. The Cylons are the enemy of everyone in the Fleet, and the organized force of the Colonial Fleet is humanity's last hope for dealing with them."

Simon shook his head. "I understand that the Cylons destroyed multiple planets and have killed people since, right here on the Fleet. But what you don't understand is that we've lived with this woman for over a year. What possible purpose could she serve on a small, independent ship?"

"Their purpose is always hidden until betrayal is assured."

Simon swallowed. "So you're assuming that my being here is part of some Cylon manipulation. You're arbitrarily dismissing my concerns, believing I'm unknowingly part of some Cylon conspiracy. That's--that's very convenient, Commander Adama." Simon was a surgeon; his hands never trembled, but they went rigid from his hopeless anger.

"Give me your eyes, son," Commander Adama said. Simon looked up sharply. Adama's charisma was almost overwhelming. Simon wanted to trust this man. "If the woman you know is a Cylon, it doesn't matter who you think she is. The Cylons are programmed to interact like humans, but acting doesn't make it true. I've seen a human model hook into a computer and send data. They're *machines.* Dr. Tam, their goal is to replace us. There are hardly any of us left to replace, and that's because of them as well. If you don't want to believe what the rest of us know, you size up the facts and make the decision for yourself."

Simon was aware that he was being dismissed, in the Commander's mind if not in words. His own thoughts shifted around in his head until the only thing that steadied him was the vision of River’s fate. And the fate of their home on that little ship.


	3. Chapter 3

They locked Inara up in her own shuttle, after Lee's men put a lock on the bay from outside. Baltar insisted on bringing over another team of Marines to guard it specifically; Kara insisted they take the Heavy Raider back for the next load and send some ship mending supplies when they came back.

Kara set up camp inside Inara's shuttle, and spent the whole day just watching her. Inara never said a word. She moved from luxurious couch to luxurious bed; she drank plain water; at dinner, she offered Kara a bowl of dried meat.

Kara hated to rush style, but she didn’t really have a lot of time to work with. So finally she asked, "Who told you to train to be a Companion?"

Inara looked up from the hands she had clasped in her lap, unsurprised. "I was never told. I just found myself traveling that path."

"As though you were destined to take it?" Kara smiled. "As though God sent you down that path?"

Inara returned the smile with the same inflection. "You might put it like that."

"But would you?"

Inara raised her gaze above eye level, to signify thoughtfulness. "I'm not sure that I have ever analyzed my motives."

"What were you before you entered the Guild?"

Inara cocked her head, just slightly. "What was I?"

Kara narrowed her eyes. "It's not a philosophical question. Where did you live? Who did you want to be? Do you have any idea?"

Inara tipped her chin. "I didn't expect these kinds of questions from you, Lieutenant."

"Yeah, well," Kara said sharply again, "that's why they give me these jobs. I'm un-frakking-predictable." She stood up and walked over to Inara's vanity stand. "You know, I used to know how to make every one of these dyes." She touched the tiny wooden cup of red powder. "How do you keep up your supply?"

"I am very thrifty," Inara said, as though they were girls sharing secrets. "And the Captain has been kind enough to make trade with some of the other ships, when opportunity arises."

"Hm," Kara said, not entirely pleased to hear that. She picked up a sponge and tossed it to Inara. "Take it off."

Inara's eyes were dark and uncompromising, and she held up the sponge. "Do you think it will make you more comfortable?"

Kara gave her a tight-lipped smile. "Wouldn't be surprised."

Inara stood slowly, and approached Kara. Kara stood behind Inara and watched her in the mirror as she carefully, deliberately wiped her face clean. At first, it didn't look like she'd removed any of her mask. She looked up at Kara mutely and waited. Kara set one hand on Inara's shoulder, just where it met her neck. "Did any of your clients ever try this?" she asked softly. "Did they ever want to see the real you?"

Inara looked at herself in the mirror, then quickly away. "No."

Kara lowered her chin to the top of Inara's silky hair. "Is there a real you, Inara?"

"If we are what we do, then I am only my work," she said softly.

Kara threaded her fingers into Inara's hair and started to loosen the pins holding it. "Companions are taught to make emotions their work. They are who they are asked to be... every *frakking* different time they do their work." Kara smiled at Inara, coldly, in the mirror. "Even if you weren't a Cylon, you'd have a lot more in common with them than with anyone with a heart."

Inara stared back at her. "That's a very hurtful thing to say, Lieutenant."

"Uh huh. But did you feel hurt?" Inara's slick black hair was wound around and around her fingers, stretched tight around Kara's knuckles. "Do you even know anymore?"

"I'm a little confused about something, Lieutenant; I wonder if you might help me clear it up. Do you hate me because you think I'm a Cylon? Or because you think I'm a whore?"

"Interesting that you put it that way. We both know you're a whore. And *I* know you're a Cylon."

Inara's eyes flicked up.

Kara smiled. "I'm a card player, Inara. I know a tell when I see one."

Inara's lips pressed together. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not so sure you didn't intend it that way." Kara gave the hair one last tug and stepped back. "When you make a face, do you think about it first? Or is it a preprogrammed expression of emotion?"

Inara had a hint of shadow under her unpainted eyes. From this angle, it was even more pronounced. Slowly, she turned away from the vanity stand and looked Kara face-to-face. "You think that's only a Cylon function?"

Kara shook her head. "Absolutely not."

"Then what are you getting at, Lieutenant?"

"The Cylons are desperate to understand human emotions. But we're not so easy to understand," Kara pointed out. She rushed it a little, seeing no response on Inara’s pretty facade. "Cylons are practical. They follow a pattern, every step leading to the next. They will never understand the illogical, impulsive, and downright frakked up actions of humans." She leaned down, shadowing her face. "And I don't care much for humans who try to understand that, either."

Inara nodded. "This is about your mother, isn't it."

Kara tried not to stiffen up, but she couldn't help thinking of how much she'd told Mal. "Mal didn't tell me," Inara said. "It's just that hardly anything stays secret on this ship. And--River said something. She senses things. About people."

"That's another reason River couldn't be a Cylon," Kara said.

"Because she empathizes?"

"Is that how you see it?" Kara put her hand on one hip. "Or is that how you think I'll see it?"

"I feel," Inara said carefully. "To try to understand is to have your own mind."

"You sound a little desperate there, Inara. I warn you, I've already heard all the crap about fish swimming the same stream."

"Why would I use that on you? Knowing how little that would work on you. I would cater my methods better than that."

Kara smiled again. "Go ahead. How do you read me?"

Inara took a breath and looked at her intently. "You are used to things hurting you, but you think self pity is weak so you avoid looking at life directly; you come at things from the side. You look at people, not situations; you've never really believed you're the best at anything. You have faith in the small things. And you once loved someone so fiercely it terrifies you to realize how easily you could feel that again."

Kara looked as far back into Inara's eyes as she could find life. "Wow," she mocked her. "That's amazing. You get me, you really do."

Inara stared at her, maybe complacent and maybe not.

"You see, there are exceptions to every rule--every body,” Kara continued.

"Are there? Or do you just want there to be? I've dealt with enough people to know, sometimes they *do* fit into patterns."

"Only the ones you only know this long," Kara said, tapping the Chinese sand-counter on a stand next to Inara's tea table. "Sex is only one way of knowing people. Surely they taught you that in Companion school."

"Sex is something we can relate over, I think, Lieutenant," Inara said, her voice dipping back into honeyed tones.

"You think? I’m bracing myself for more insight.”

Inara's hand touched Kara's, turned and caressed just lightly enough that Kara didn't slap it away. "You understand people through the way they react. To how you push them, how you hurt them. How they work with you, and what they do with the information you give them." Inara's lip curved. But it was less a curve and more a quirk without the heavy paint. "You don't play favorites. You just feed on reactions."

Kara revealed nothing. "Do you want to know why I'm not telling you who *you* are?"

Inara looked at her curiously, surprised at the question. "Because you don't want to know."

Kara leaned down in front of her face again, and put an intimate spin on her voice. "Because you're a *Cylon*."

The farthest inside corner of Inara's eye twitched.

"Bothers you, doesn't it?” Kara went on, softly. “That we write you off, just for being designed instead of born?" Kara smiled slightly. "Or wait, is it because God loves us best?"

"Are you asking me to convince you of something, Lieutenant?" Her voice barely waivered.

Kara stepped back. "You told me yourself I love a good argument. But you're not capable of *even* that, are you?"

When she left the shuttle, Mal met her on the walkway to the bridge. She looked at him wearily. Mostly the uniform made things easier. Sometimes it got in the way.

Mal met her eyes. "It don't seem to me to be right, condemning someone--man, woman, or otherwise--who hasn't done anything what makes them guilty."

"Yet," Kara snapped.

"Don't matter," Mal said, sounding blithe. "She's part of my crew."

Kara glared at him. "That doesn't frakking cut it, Mal, and you know it. Not this time. I'm calling _Galactica_." She turned up the stairs to the bridge. Mal grabbed the back of her jacket and yanked her back down, catching her elbow before she slammed it into his solar plexus.

"Inara's never sabotaged me or my crew," he stated sternly. "She's always stayed out of my business--" he paused, "More or less." He looked at her closely. "That counts for something in my book."

Kara shared her glare with the Marine stepping up behind Mal, and then at the man himself. "I *understand,* Mal." She pulled away and went up the stairs.

* * *

Baltar leaned, arms crossed, against the guard rails behind Kara's seat at the helm. "The second test came back positive," Kara said without looking at him.

"I need your support in insisting the Cylon be moved to _Galactica_ immediately," Baltar said.

"That's your job, Baltar. Mine is wherever I'm sent."

Baltar recrossed his arms. "You're just being difficult."

Kara smiled to herself. "Maybe."

"And maybe you should think of being more helpful to me. After all, I know things you might not like to get out."

Kara looked down at the dingy vid screen and put the inching shame out of her mind. The Fleet put a ban on these things years ago. Said they were unnecessary. She scratched at the dirt crusted onto it.

"Maybe I don't really give a frak, Doc." She thought about what he might tell Lee, and whether Lee would believe she ever thought of him during sex. She expected Lee to laugh it off. Nothing but the rain.

"I think you might," Baltar said, coming up next to her and balancing on his hand over the top of the vid screen she was staring at. Kara braced herself and looked up at him, far too close to her face. "Science is comprised of a list of relevant facts. But in order to connect those facts, one requires imagination." Baltar smiled down at her, ridiculously sleazy. Kara was having a seriously bad day when she let him this near her by *choice*.

Lords, she missed arguing with a man she only had to hit to fight with. "Be careful, Doctor," she said levelly.

"I almost always am," he said smugly, and had the good sense to leave her alone in the cockpit.

* * *

"Lee, what's going on?"

Lee raised his head from his huddle with the Marines' team leader. "Assemble your men," he said quietly, and turned to Kara.

The Marine nodded shortly and left.

Kara's fingernails dug into her hand. "Lee?"

"Captain. I see you're tryin' to take a crew member off my ship. Don't seem to me she's goin' voluntarily."

"I'm under orders," Lee said.

"I don't much care about your ruttin' orders. Nor for 'em, either."

Lee shook his head. "Nothing I can do about that."

"Nobody's gettin' took if they don't want to," Mal said. "Not off my ship." Zoe stood behind him, Jayne on the other side. They were unarmed, but they looked determined. Lee's hand fell to his firearm.

"If you don't cooperate, I will be forced to treat you as an enemy of the fleet."

Mal held up his hands. "Can't let you do that, Captain."

"Lee," Kara said urgently. "They're civilian. You can't shoot him."

"He's harboring an enemy of the fleet and putting us all in danger," Lee said coldly. "You know as well as I do the Cylons could be tracking this one."

"The ruttin' Cylons never bothered us before," Jayne grumbled. "Don't know what you're bein' all paranoid for."

"You will all stand down, or I will do whatever is necessary to put you down."

"Seems to me I've been pretty clear about my decision, Captain, and I'd like a little more respect 'bout it while you're here on my ship."

Lee glared at Mal.

"Lee," Kara cautioned.

"My father wants this Cylon in a secure brig for further interrogation," he said through his teeth. "And that's where it belongs."

"Lee, just listen."

"It's not my job to listen," Lee hissed. Kara felt like she was living in some sort of backward reality. Lee was always the one who weighed the consequences and suffered for his ideals. She was the reckless, smart-ass crazy one who just got the job done no matter what.

"Where are the Marines?" Lee asked rhetorically, narrowing his eyes. Kara looked over the three of the firefly’s crew, all poker-faced and unforgiving. Lee drew his gun and kept it close to his side. "The odds are not in your favor, and I don't want any more trouble than there has to be. The Cylon on your ship is a danger to you, and I am going to take her--*it* off your hands."

"An' I don't much want my hands unburdened, Captain," Mal said softly. He didn't back away.

Lee's eyes quickly scanned the empty walkway, flicked to Kara, and then back to Mal. "Step back," he warned him seriously. "My men will shoot first and ask questions later."

"I am aware of that," Mal said. "Part of what I got a problem with, matter of fact." Hands still raised, Mal stepped forward.

"Lieutenant."

Kara spared at moment to look at Lee, standing his ground and needing backup. Then she pulled her gun, braced it with both hands, and aimed it at the middle of Mal's forehead. "Freeze," she ordered.

Mal froze. The others eased back just a bit. Lee reholstered his weapon, with complete confidence. "Hold them," he said, and went bounding up the stairs toward the shuttle.

Kara stared into Mal's eyes. He returned it blankly, nothing to give. She slowly slid her eyes to Jayne, and watched his gaze flicker. First confusion, then an immediate seize of adrenaline. He lunged forward and snatched the gun out of her hands, giving her a hard enough backhand to toss her across the bay into the cargo crates sitting there.

When Lee came marching back with the Marines and Baltar, Kara was kneeling with a gun to her head. Lee's expression was incredulous.

"Now then. Get off my ship, or we're gonna shoot your best gorram pilot," Mal declared cheerfully.

"Do you really think I'm going to go for that?" Lee was looking at Kara, not Mal. "Did you think I'd believe they got the drop on you?"

"Doesn't matter what you believe," Kara said.

"Yeah," Jayne added. "What she said." He backhanded her across the mouth again. Kara felt her lip pop open and tasted a lot of blood.

Lee looked at his men. "Stand down," he said quietly.

"What!" Baltar protested. "You can't possibly—she’s obviously, well, well, she's a traitor, isn't she?" His head jerked back and forth, and his eyes shifted to his left side several times, distractedly.

"Doesn't matter," Lee said impassively. "They want us to go, we go." Lee looked at Mal harshly for a long few moments. "You hurt her and you'll never see your doctor again."

* * *

"He's offering to leave," Kara said into the wireless. "He wants to take his crew and his ship and leave the Fleet."

"I can't let ships randomly secede from the Fleet," Commander Adama replied: his voice, as usual, giving nothing away. "The Cylons would pick us off in a minute. Even if I could allow it, I wouldn't do it with a gun to my head."

Kara flicked the voice switch off and looked at Mal. He stood with his arms crossed, watching her talk. "That's the last word," she explained simply.

Mal reached over her and took the radio mic. "Commander, this is Captain Reynolds."

"Captain Reynolds, I’m pleased you’re finally speaking for yourself."

"'Fraid I'm not real keen on dealing with the military, Commander. Find the rules a mite constricting."

"I can understand that, Captain. But those rules, in this case, are there for a reason."

"Yes, I've been made aware of that a goodly number of times now. And I want you to understand, I got a good reason too. For not wanting to split up my crew."

"I understood this woman was a passenger, not crew. Is that incorrect?"

Mal scowled. "Yes, that's incorrect. My crew's family, Commander. Every member of my crew is important to this ship. If not for the runnin' of it, then because they're a part of the ship herself. My position on this subject ain't gonna change, no matter how many words we exchange in smart banter." He shut down the radio transmission and cursed, loud and long in Chinese.

Kara looked at him. "You won't get anywhere with that escort flying guard. If they feel they have to, they won't hesitate to take this whole ship out."

"Wouldn't fly nowhere anyhow," Mal said, turning away. "I ain't leavin' the doc behind."

Kara turned in the pilot's chair. "Freedom in togetherness, Mal?"

Mal acknowledged the idea with a slight smile. "You are welcome on my crew, Kara Thrace," he remarked. "'Course, I can't guarantee you'd keep your rank. Leastwise, not right away."

"Where will you even go?" Kara asked hopelessly. "The fleet--we aren’t perfect, but you aren't independent anymore. You can't hop from planet to planet, hoping for the best."

"It's a big 'verse. I figure there's some people left out there, more'n a few scattered here and there. Think we might go see what's left." He nodded serenely. "I've never been known for my ability to settle peaceful-like in a big group like this, an' seeing as we're not real wanted here..."

Kara swallowed, the urgent itch of adrenaline hitting her in the gut. "I should be with you. I joined the Fleet to get away from--I joined _Galactica_ to get away from something too..." She stopped. "There are *people* fighting out there. The resistance on Caprica--"

"Right,” he cut her off, mercifully. “I remember what you told me. Plannin' a stop there." He paused. "You go where you or your crew can best fit, Kara. An' if that don't work out, you just stay where your crew is."

She followed Mal into the dining area, where the rest of his crew--including Inara--sat. "The long and the short of it is this: we're gonna have to find some way to get Simon off that barge." He glanced at Kara. "You with us?"

Kara looked at her feet. "I won't help you infiltrate _Galactica_. And it's a bad idea, anyway."

"The odds do seem kinda in favor of the other side."

"Has anybody ever thought that this ain't a battle we gotta fight?"

Everybody looked at Jayne. "Hope you're not tryin' to be rid of the doc still, Jayne," Mal remarked.

"Nah, somebody's gotta keep that crazy sister of his in line."

Inara sat still in her seat. "He's saying maybe you should give me up," she remarked, as though it was an abstract discussion.

Jayne shifted uncomfortably.

"Maybe I'm a danger to all of you. How do you know?" She paused. "How do *I* know?" Kara was watching her, but she gave up the idea of discerning true emotion from the girl. She was just too hard to pin down.

The Shepherd deliberately cleared his throat. "I realize none of us follows the same religion or worships the same god--those of us that do. But one area I feel I'm qualified to chime in is the philosophical argument. Scripture does promise God's love to his creations. I don't think the origin of the Cylons is in question..."

Mal started to speak over him, his voice hard. "You want to be real careful about what you're sayin' there, Shepherd."

"Shepherd got a point," Jayne insisted. "'Bout the Cylons, least wise. Not sayin' that's what 'Nara is or nothin'. But if she *was*...why'd we want to go an' be loyal to a robot?"

“Jayne, thought you were ‘bout ripe to go crazy on this ship. Thought you wanted to see some action.”

“Well, *yeah*…”

“Then ya might wanna shut up now.”

"Not about the why," River spoke up, as though to endorse the captain. "'Bout the what-for."

Mal looked at River. "Seems to me there's humans that have done just as bad if not worse'n robots do." He looked around his people. "Believe you all know I'm not much for religiousity. It's not the nature or the creator of a man that I base my judgments on, it's what he does. Or in this case, what she does. I don't give no extra credit for who a person is, I'm loyal just to them that mean somethin' to me. Inara ain't done nothin' to turn a one of us against her, and that's all the what of it there is."

Kara's eyes flicked from person to person, taking in what response she could read. They all seemed to accept Mal's word on the subject. Zoe's eyes were particularly intent, and Kara was almost certain she was debating the great big flaw in Mal's resolution. But she said nothing. Kara watched her take Wash’s hand.

Inara stood up and smoothed the crinkles in her fine dress. "I may be able to help. If I could speak to Lieutenant Thrace again."

Mal nodded, and Inara moved toward Kara by the hatchway. “Inara, don't be getting any funny ideas,” he warned as she passed in front of him. “Team forgets it's a team an' it ain't. Alls it takes is just one member to do the convincin'.”

River giggled. “You sound like me, Captain.”

"You know, you do," Inara smiled back, suddenly warm.

"I know what you're thinking," she went on, back in her shuttle. "You want to know if it's real. If I'm going to kill them all even if we get away and fly off into the black."

"Doesn't seem to matter what I think," Kara replied dismissively. "We're on your terms now, aren't we?"

"But you see," Inara said, earnestly. "It matters to me. Now. I want to tell you something. Something that could help."

"Something that could help would be you letting me see what makes you tick. So I can use it to fry the rest of your kind."

Inara didn’t falter. "You're trying to hold onto yourself. I understand that. You see, I don't know who I am myself, but I..." She stopped. "No. Let me do this right." She went over to her chest of drawers and pulled the key out of a drapery. "If training to be a Companion has taught me anything, it's the importance of ceremony. Gives weight to a subject."

Kara sighed impatiently.

Inara looked over her shoulder She looked amused. "Sit. Wait. I promise, I will show you what you're looking for."

"That's one thing I will never stop hating about you guys," Kara replied, feeling a tinge of exhaustion at the back of her neck. "All the talk in riddles. Like you know more than everybody else."

Inara lit a flame and touched it to her incense lamp. "I was going to leave the ship. Before the Cylon attacks… I knew for some reason, I had to be somewhere else. But Mal wouldn't let me leave." She went around the shuttle slowly, lighting candles and drawing filters over other lamps.

Kara sat back. "What am I, a client now?"

Inara looked at her as she cupped her hand and blew out the torch. "Yes," she said simply.

Kara couldn't deny she'd wondered about that. What it was like: being the focus of so much careful attention. Not since, but back then. As a kid. She sat in silence and watched as Inara prepared a tea service. "You going to start the clock, too?" Kara finally asked.

Inara shook her head. She sat, between them the table spread with all her hoarded pleasures. "Do you want to know why I am sincerely loyal to this crew?"

Kara stared across at her, mutely. Inara poured the water, set it down, and looked at Kara again. "Despite everything they've heard and people they ought to believe have said, not one of them looks at me with suspicion. Not one. Do you know the kind of faith that requires, Lieutenant Thrace?"

"Blind," Kara remarked.

"Yes," Inara agreed. "And it doesn't come naturally. It's a decision. A choice," she emphasized. She looked at the table, her thoughts obviously turned inward. "This crew, these men have all manner of reason to show cruelty when given an excuse, believe me. But they haven't."

"And you intend to repay them how?"

Inara picked up her cup, her fingertip naturally turning up. "I intend to repay them by being who they think I am. Inara Serra. Just--me." She smiled. It looked almost genuine. "It's you who I intend to do the most good."

"Oh yeah? How does that work?"

"You should be a hero by the time you get back to your ship." Inara took a sip of her tea, leaving her eyes on Kara. "I'm going to show you my big secret. Something I'll never tell Mal, or anyone else on this ship."

Kara raised an eyebrow. "Hmm," she said. Then her face lit up in a grin. "That I'm interested in."

"It's the sex," Inara said slowly. "Why it's so important. You've noticed that, right?"

Kara stiffened slightly. "It's about reproduction."

"No," Inara corrected gently. "Not exactly. That's part of it, but mostly it's the-- art of human connection. The moment of release is a moment of closeness. It's sublime."

"Is this Companion teaching or Cylon theory?"

Inara bowed her head. "It's just something I understand. I joined the Companions Guild very young. My earliest memories involve sex. I remember thinking there was something religious about it. About the moment of being close to divine, as well as the path to reach it. But this was not the Companion teaching. I don't know who taught that to me."

"So you don't worship one God."

"No," Inara demurred. "Not exactly. I believe in the potential to be struck down, at any moment, for blasphemy. But I do not sacrifice, or perform any rituals. I'm not trying to convert anyone, Lieutenant Thrace. I promise you, if there is a conspiracy, I know nothing about it."

"But you still think you know something important."

"Sex is a way of controlling people," Inara said. "Or it can be used that way. It can give one power. But it is also a very human act. When a female takes a man into her body, she possesses him for an instant. If she is good at the seduction, she may take him for more than an instant," she added, unhampered by modesty. "A woman may learn something about a man this way."

Kara narrowed her eyes at her. "Are you talking about downloading information?"

"I think so," Inara said carefully. "I do not understand it that way. I realize you think I should talk like a computer. But--that is not how I function. I'm telling you what I have come to understand. Or what I think I understand. And..." Inara hesitated, just a moment. "I may have a way of proving it to you. Something in my spine seems to react, in a way unique to me, to sex."

"Huh," Kara said. "And how do we test that?"

"That is where I think my training may prove useful." Inara’s dark eyes teased and pulled at her over the rim of her cup. “Finish your tea, Lieutenant.”

* * *

Simon was exhausted. He couldn't sleep; the _Galactica_ was always so busy, day or night, and his thoughts kept him in turmoil. He was frightened for his sister--couldn't help it, even now that Inara was the one implicated. He felt very far from _Serenity_ , even sure as he was that the Captain wouldn't take his sister away, or abandon either of them.

The people on _Galactica_ all seemed to know who he was now, and though Captain Adama, surprisingly, stopped by regularly and was dependably polite, the others avoided even basic communication with him. The massive shared toilet facilities, so daunting when he first boarded and found himself constantly in the way, now offered him ostentatious isolation.

The worst part was that he was quite certain if anything relevant were to happen to _Serenity_ or affecting the rest of his situation, he would never know until Adama deigned to tell him about it. More than anything, Simon longed for something as simple as a window. To see the sky.

He had no idea what to expect when his kindly captor came for him today. Upon entering the Commander's office, however, and seeing the Captain standing side-by-side with Lieutenant Thrace, his stomach felt like it balled up and rolled in his chest. Mal just looked at him. It was his usual indifferent expression, the one he wore whenever he was going to take care of a problem, and it made Simon smile tentatively.

"I have no intention of holding your doctor hostage, Captain," Commander Adama spoke. "As you can see, he's been treated very well. However, according to Captain Adama, you have been holding one of my pilots hostage since yesterday. You gave us every reason to believe your ship was a dangerous environment."

"Well, now, one of my men got a bit fussy the other day, thinking we were being manned a bit too handly. He's been disciplined for striking your officer." Mal looked at Kara. "As you can see for your own self, she's not been harmed. An' I believe the lip was already split beforehand."

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Adama said, giving his pilot a disapproving look.

Lieutenant Thrace shifted. "Sorry for the misunderstanding, sir."

"Right, then, can I have my doctor back now?" Mal asked briskly.

Commander Adama nodded. "Of course. I'll send Captain Adama back with a team of Marines to secure your ship." He sat back down at his desk.

Mal stepped forward. "Let's speak plainly, sir. Is my ship under my command, or ain't she?"

"We have no intention of taking control of your ship--"

"Seems to me control's already been took," Mal interjected. "We ain't free to fly where we want; far as I'm seein' it's as good as bein' told how to live."

Commander Adama was attentive. "I understand your feelings, Captain Reynolds. We all have our own way of running our ships, and we cannot survive by forcing uniformity throughout the Fleet. That said, this is a military vessel. If we do not take care of the enemy within and without the Fleet, what's left of the human race will have no protection."

"The Fleet will be plenty protected if you let us go on our merry way."

"Unless you immediately signal our position and any other information you might have gleaned--" he glanced at Simon, significantly. "to the Cylons."

Simon pulled his fear in close to his chest and stayed still. This was a convoluted muddle.

"Guess you'd just have to trust me on that, Commander," Mal said implacably.

The Commander's expression said Mal was insane.

He looked at his son. "Apollo will be taking you then?" At the dismissive words, Simon darted a look at Mal.

"I'm willing to cooperate with a military escort," Mal said, genially. "I'd just feel more comfortable dealing with familiar faces." He nodded at Lieutenant Thrace, and Captain Adama.

"That'll be fine," Commander Adama answered.

"And are the Marines really necessary?"

"At this point, I think they are, Captain."

"The Cylon has been very cooperative," Kara remarked. "She didn't require coercion during interrogation and she shared some new information, sir."

"Doesn't mean she won't protest being taken off the ship." The trial was over. _Galactica_ ’s decision was final. The Commander exchanged a quick look with Captain Adama, and nodded again. "Thank you, Captain."

"I don't think the Marines are necessary," Kara said as they walked through C-deck. "They can meet us when we land on _Galactica_."

"Cylons are dangerous," Lee reminded her, the tone of his voice raw.

"Marines can be dangerous, too," Kara reminded him back.

He turned and glared at her over his shoulder. "No one's firing on civilians, not on my watch. I'm sure Captain Reynolds doesn't want that, either."

"Not a bit of it," Mal replied.

"And just so you know," Lee went on, stopping in the middle of the hall to look at Kara sternly, "if you pull another trick like that last one, I will put you in irons and throw you in the brig. I don't need a pilot so badly I'll tolerate mutiny." He looked at her intently. "Understood, Lieutenant?"

Kara looked back at him, chin up. Not exactly submissive. "Perfectly, Captain."

Simon glanced at Mal nervously, but he looked unconcerned. They just kept following the officers down the hallways, winding through the ship and down ladders, past hundreds of uniforms, leading toward the port-side flight deck.

* * *

Lee was too smart not to be aware that he could be walking into a trap. He was too observant not to see that Simon was first out the door once the shuttle docked. But he let him get away with it, because his sister was waiting on the other side, and because he was a civilian. And Lee believed in the Fleet commitment to serve more than anything else.

Kara waited. Mal was trusting her influence over Lee. But what made her uncomfortable was trusting Mal--and his crew--not to shoot first.

Lee stepped through the hatch and onto the ship. "Hold it, flyboy." She heard a large gun being cocked, but she, Mal, and Wash were throwing all their weight into slamming the hatch shut before the Marines moved onto the ship.

Lee didn't bother raising his hands, as Zoe had removed his gun almost before he knew what happened. He cast a look of exasperation at Kara. "Would you just take a side and stay on it already?"

Kara pursed her lips and rolled her eyes up. "Lee, I just want you to give them a chance. I swear to the gods, it's your decision."

"The decision's already been made, Kara," he hissed, clenching his jaw.

"They just want to take their Cylon and go away, Lee." Kara led his eyes to the members of _Serenity_ 's crew, all standing around waiting on him. River leaned into Simon's chest, and he held her shoulder tightly. Jayne and Zoe's guns didn't waver from their aim at both of Lee's shoulders until Mal raised a hand and they put them down. The Shepherd looked on impassively, and Kaylee was biting on the side of her hand. Inara stood to one side, still and silent.

Lee took a deep breath. "The decision was that it is dangerous to start letting ships split off from the Fleet."

"But we can't stay with the Fleet unless we let you have Inara," Kaylee blurted. "'S just not right!"

Lee looked at her carefully. "It also may be dangerous to treat Cylons as though they are citizens."

"We were gettin' tired of floatin' along, runnin' and hidin' and bein' just another bunch of numbers, anyhow, Captain," Mal said. "We'd kinda like to split paths as it is. Trouble is, we'll be wantin' to do that with the group as it is."

"Lee," Kara said, tapping on the shuttle door. "They're cutting through the shell."

Lee looked at the guns in the hands of Zoe and Jayne. He stepped over to the door and waved at the Marines through the small window, signaling them to stand down. Lee scrubbed a hand through his hair as he turned back around. "I don't suppose I could have my gun back now."

"Thing is, if you was to take the idea into your head to use it, I think Lieutenant Starbuck would have your back. Think it might go better for us if you stay unarmed for now."

Lee looked at Kara.

"Lee. You know it's the right thing."

Lee dropped his hands away from his face and looked up at her wearily. "The right thing," he repeated. "Taking a stand. That always comes back to bite me in the ass."

Mal watched him closely. "Seems to me the right things always do," he remarked slowly.

Lee said nothing, irritation a bright flare in his eyes, visibly turning him deaf.

"Those who don't learn from the past repeat it," River said suddenly, urgent. "All this has happened before, all will come again. The sentinel reacts to the prophet when the soldier bleeds."

Simon slowly put his hand over his sister's mouth, blinking up at them all wide-eyed. "I don't know what she's talking about," he said weakly.

"I do," Lee said, and suddenly he had another gun in his hand and pointed at Inara.

"No!" Kara cried, and leapt in front of Jayne and Zoe's guns as they reacted. "Lee!"

Mal stepped in front of Inara, his hands still raised passively.

"It's wrong, Lee. Look at them. You *know* it is."

Lee gritted his teeth, his aim holding steady. "I'm having a hard time seeing what is and isn't clearly these days, Kara. But I know," he insisted, his eyes flicking to Inara, "I *know* they're the bad guys."

"Lee," Kara hissed. "I *can't* let you do it."

"Get out of the frakking way!" Lee yelled at Mal.

"Watch that itchy hand, Captain. Seems to me your daddy told you not to fire on civilians."

He wasn't hesitating. She didn't get the sense Lee was hesitating.

"Lee!" Kara insisted, heatedly. "Come on!"

"I don't care what the frak you do, and I don't give a damn at the moment whether you take Kara with you, but I'm not leaving you in the hands of a Cylon," Lee said, without moving his jaw. His teeth were gritted tight. "You're so far in you don't even know when you're being manipulated."

"No, son," Mal said, shaking his head. "We're making a choice. Just like you are now. Don't hide behind your job. It's still you pointin' that gun."

Lee glared at him. Kara slowly stepped toward him. Too late, she heard the impatient grumbling behind her. "I'll show you a ruttin' choice," Jayne's voice got louder, and she started to move before she looked back at him. The shot caught her in the shoulder, spun her around and dropped her to the floor hard. The second she looked up, Lee was kneeling over her looking panicked. His face cleared when she met his eyes, and he backed off to let Simon examine her.

"Jayne, this is why we keep Vera locked up." Mal sounded a little mad.

"Doc?" Jayne sounded more than a little contrite. "She gonna be alright?"

"It went right through," said Simon. "Let's get her down to the infirmary."

"Alright, everybody freeze, down on the floor! Drop your weapons!" Kara squinted to the side, not turning her dizzy head. The Marines had broken through the hatchway.

"Okay, okay, stand down," Lee said, from somewhere.

"Sir?"

"The shooting was an accident." Lee paused. "I take responsibility. Put down your arms."

Kara closed her eyes for a second. Her arm really hurt, but it was good because Lee was back in charge. She let the pain pass and opened her eyes when she felt hands pulling open her flight suit.

"You coming with us?" She was being lifted, but Mal’s face was right there.

"Have to go with my crew, Cap," she said softly. He smiled.

* * *

The outline of Lee's head was only slightly fuzzy against the bright lights in _Serenity_ 's infirmary. "How do you always get yourself into these situations?"

Kara got one side of her smile to come up. "I'm a screw-up. Can't you ever remember that?"

Lee looked at her impassively. She blinked rapidly, her eyes getting blurry. "People get shot no matter which side you're on, huh."

Lee laughed mirthlessly. "Doc says your head will clear soon," he said. "Had to put you under and clean out the fibers from your suit."

* * *

Kara's eyes popped open. She wasn't where she belonged. She carefully sat up and checked her arm. It was neatly bandaged and she couldn't feel a thing. "Did Lee leave?" she asked.

Simon hurried over. "Yes, he said something like civilian medical aid didn't require a military presence and he took the second Raptor a few minutes ago. But the Heavy Raider's still on board. Would you like me to take that out?"

She nodded, cleared her throat. He put a straw to her lips, and something wet went down, and then he removed the IV needle.

"Good, you're up." Zoe walked down the steps into the infirmary. "Captain says we need to leave before _Galactica_ stops being sentimental. If you wanna get off, you'd best be moving." She looked at Simon. "She okay to fly, Doc?"

"Sure," he said. "Should be." He smiled at Kara. "Especially if the things I heard on _Galactica_ were true about your expertise as a pilot."

Kara managed a weak grin. "Never needed exaggerating, Doc."

He wound up the IV line and set it aside. He glanced at Zoe. "I just want to say...for River and my part, we're very grateful, Lieutenant Thrace."

Kara grimaced. "Don't mention it." She eased off the table onto her feet.

"Oh, just a moment. Your jacket was covered with blood, but I expect you'll be needing it." Simon hurried across the hall.

Kara looked at Zoe. "So, you're really doing it, you're really leaving."

Zoe set her hands on her hips. "Captain sets his sights on an idea, he usually don't look back."

"What Mal says goes here, is that it?"

"He is the Captain," Zoe stated.

"What if he had turned against her? Would you have sided with him then, too?"

Zoe looked up, her eyes clear. "He wouldn't have done that. It would have been like turning against me. Wouldn't be much call for me to side with him had he turned against me, now would there."

Kara smiled slightly. She had her bearings now, and she met Simon outside the infirmary with her flight suit. It was a wreck. She took it. She'd worn worse. "Thanks, Doc."

Kara nodded at the crew as Mal walked her by them, gathered around the airlock. She looked at Zoe standing by her husband, and nodded respectfully. She looked at Inara and for the moment she saw her as both robot and individual parts. River popped up at her side and held her hand. "You always love the ones you leave," she said gravely. "The 'verse is _gou shi_. Everybody leaves."

"Gotcha," Kara answered. River smiled back, pleased.

She smirked at Mal. "Together again and free at last, huh, Captain Reynolds?"

He gave her a mock salute. "Be a good girl, Starbuck."

No need to be good if you're in the brig, she figured. Kara turned the Heavy Raider mid-air on the way back to _Galactica_ , in time to see _Serenity_ disappear in a FTL jump. She smiled slightly. She'd been tossed into hack for a lot less.

* * *

"I wasn't sure you'd be coming back," Lee said. He crossed his arms and stared at her from two feet across the landing bay. Chief Tyrol and Cally were checking the Heavy Raider over carefully, certain it would be booby-trapped somehow. Lee was looking her over the same way. His posture and the way he held his neck couldn't disguise his eyes darting from her bandage to the bloody flight suit pushed down around her waist.

Kara pressed her lips together and nodded once. "The thing is, Lee, you're my crew. And nothing's gonna change that." Kara shifted uncomfortably, but she meant it, so she kept talking. "Guess I'm stuck with you. And I know you couldn't survive without your best pilot." She met his eyes for a moment, as he checked her for sincerity, and then she smirked.

"Oh. I see." Lee said, the turn of his mouth a smile and nothing less. "Well then." He put his hands on either side of Kara's waist and pulled until he had her between his arms and up against his firm chest. His hand swept through her hair up the back of her head, just a brief solid touch, before he softened his grip, as though she would jump back. The entire landing bay broke out in cat-calls and teasing applause, but he never looked at them. "I guess I can do that without worrying about bodily injury, silent treatment, or a one-night stand then."

"I never said I wouldn't stop talking to you ever again," Kara retorted.

"Oh. Great."

"Besides, you're the one who can hold a grudge for years." Kara rolled her eyes. "But it doesn't take talk to do this." She yanked him back to her chest, a hard tug, because if there was one thing her reputation was based on, it was that Kara Thrace knew how to call high stakes. And after all, they did have an audience.

She held him fiercely, and he held back. Just as she knew he could, he met her there. And he put his whole self into the event. His hands were large and he pressed them into her, every one of his fingers spread. She arched her back and slid her hands through his hair, along the tense muscles in the back of his neck, across his shoulders and biceps. And she just held on to him, and heard nothing but the rain.

She pulled back and looked him in the eye. He stared back at her, disbelieving and shocked and happy. “Lee,” she said. “You don't know me.”

He blinked at her, his brain working to catch up. “I don't?”

“No,” she replied certainly.

“Then…that must mean you don't know me,” he said, logically.

She smiled. He was getting it. “But I never thought I did.”

“You didn't?”

“No.”

He paused. “I…think I understand,” he said slowly.

“Don't try to understand,” she corrected gently. “We're too human for that.”

He smiled slightly. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

 

**END.**

* * *


End file.
